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Stressful Spouse Bad for Health of Older Americans
Aug. 13, 2004 - Having good communication, a
reliable partner and understanding in a marriage can boost a persons
health, say experts. But having more negative than positive exchanges
can diminish these benefits in the relationship and actually hurt ones
health, especially for those who have been married for a long time, says
a new study that examines the role of marital quality in the physical
health of mature adults over age 50.
Certain behaviors by one partner in long-term
marriages appear to contribute to a spouses likelihood of experiencing
chronic health problems, more disability and poorer perceived health,
according to a study that looks at 729 adults who were at least 50 years
of age and currently married and in their first marriage. Researcher
Jamila Bookwala, Ph.D., of Lafayette College used data from the National
Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) on five
dimensions of marital quality (disagreement, positive and negative
spousal behaviors, overall quality of relationship and marital
communication) and on four indicators of physical health (physical
symptoms, chronic health problems, physical disability and perceived
health). This is one of the first studies to use a large
probability-based sample of middle-aged and older individuals.
In this study, said Bookwala, the marital quality
of the relationship does contribute significantly to the physical health
of adults aged 50 and older. In particular, the occurrence of negative
spousal behaviors, such as the spouse making excessive demands, being
too critical or argumentative, being unreliable or continually agitating
ones partner was associated with poorer physical health for the
respondent. And, said Bookwala, these negative behaviors outweighed any
positive spousal behaviors in influencing physical health.
Bookwala controlled for sociodemographic variables
(socioeconomic status, education, family background) and symptoms of
depression to rule out these factors as influencing the respondents
health problems.
From these results, said Bookwala, it is likely
that the occurrence of negative behaviors from ones spouse outweighs
the role of positive behaviors in physical health. It could be that the
chronicity of negative spousal behaviors may have a cumulative and
long-term effect on health outcomes similar to those associated with
other chronic psychological stressors such as being a caregiver.
Negative behaviors between spouses may be
changeable through the appropriate interventions, said Bookwala. Marital
therapy is designed to reduce or eliminate the exchange of criticism and
excessive demands, which may prevent the negative emotions between
spouses from escalating. If the marital therapy lowered the marital
distress, then it may be possible to protect couples from health
problems that arise from the negative behaviors occurring in the
marriage, added Bookwala.
Findings of the study were presented at the 112th
Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) in
Honolulu in July.
For more on the American Psychological Association,
visit
http://www.apa.org/ |
