Interpersonal Emotional Behaviors and Physical Health: A 20-Year Longitudinal Study of Long-Term Married Couples (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Roles of Marriage and Anger Dysregulation in Biobehavioral Stress Responses
Biological Research For Nursing, 2005
Physiological and behavioral correlates of anger dysregulation in adults were evaluated in the context of marital stress. Fifty-four married couples participated in a series of laboratory procedures that included electrocardiogram measures during a 15-min marital conflict interaction and an interview assessing their inability to regulate anger (anger dysregulation). Results from the multivariate regression analyses indicated that the nature of the couple’s relationship, rather than individual levels of anger dysregulation, predicted lower parasympathetic cardiac activity (indexed by high-frequency heart period variability) and shorter cardiac interbeat intervals. Anger dysregulation, rather than the dyadic relationship, was predictive of greater displays of angry behavior during the marital conflict interaction. The importance of contextual factors in stress processes, such as stress due to marriage, are discussed in light of research linking poor marital quality to greater health r...
Journal of Family Communication, 2008
The relationship between four anger-coping marital pair types and all-cause mortality was examined with a representative random sample in the community of Tecumseh, Michigan, in a longitudinal analysis (1971)(1972)(1973)(1974)(1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988) using 192 married MARITAL PAIR ANGER-COPING AND MORTALITY 45 pairs. Each spouse (age 35-69) in a married pair was independently classified as an expressive (anger out) or suppressive (anger in) anger-coping type; then four anger-coping pair types were tested for mortality risk, adjusted for major health risk factors. When both spouses were anger suppressors (n = 26 pairs; 13 deaths), death was 2 times more likely than in all Other Types (p < .05); significantly more pairs of "Both Spouses Suppress" occurred where both died than in Other Types. A spouse interaction effect (p = .06) occurred among Both Spouses Suppress Type but not in Other Types.
A multidimensional examination of marital conflict and subjective health over 16 years
Personal Relationships, 2019
Guided by stress process perspectives, this study conceptualizes marital conflict as a multidimensional stressor to assess how three aspects of conflict-frequency of disagreements, breadth of disagreements, and cumulative disagreements-impact subjective health. Longitudinal data of married couples spanning 16 years (n = 373 couples) were analyzed using multilevel modeling. For husbands, more frequent disagreements than usual within a given year were associated with poorer subjective health. For wives, the greater cumulative effects of disagreements over 16 years were harmful for subjective health. We discuss how gendered self-representations and relationship power issues help explain the findings. This research demonstrated the importance of examining multiple aspects of marital conflict to reveal that their subjective health consequences function differently for wives and husbands. K E Y W O R D S conflict, dyadic data analysis, gender differences, health, marriage 1 | INTRODUCTION The health-enhancing effects of marriage are well documented. Married individuals tend to fare better on subjective and objective indicators of health compared to nonmarried individuals, including
Protective processes underlying the links between marital quality and physical health
Current Opinion in Psychology, 2017
Although the links between marital quality and physical health are now well established, the psychological processes through which marriage impacts health remain unclear. Additionally, prior research on the links between marriage and health has focused mainly on how negative aspects of relationships (e.g., conflict, hostility) can be damaging to one's physical health. In this article, we describe the strength and strain model of marital quality and health, which provides a roadmap for studying protective factors underlying marriage-health links. We home in one relationship process-partner responsiveness-and one broad class of psychological mechanisms-affective processes-to illustrate core aspects of the model. Our review suggests that future research will profit from a greater integration of theory from the social psychology of close relationships into studies of relationships and health.
Journal of Personality, 2004
The related traits of hostility, anger, and aggressiveness have long been suggested as risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). Our prior review of this literature found both considerable evidence in support of this hypothesis and important limitations that precluded firm conclusions. In the present review, we discuss recent research on the assessment of these traits, their association with CHD and longevity, and mechanisms possibly underlying the association. In doing so, we illustrate the value of the interpersonal tradition in personality psychology for not only research on the health consequences of hostility, anger, and aggressiveness, but also for the general study of the effects of emotion, personality and other psychosocial characteristics on physical health. Hostility, anger and aggressive behavior play a central role in the centuries-old hypothesis that emotions and aspects of personality influence physical health. In the 19th century, physicians suggested that anger and aggressive striving contributed to coronary heart disease (CHD). Psychodynamic theorists in the mid-20th century maintained that excessive anger and inflexible styles of expressing it
Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 2007
Hostility may contribute to risk for disease through psychosocial vulnerability, including the erosion of the quality of close relationships. This study examined hostility, anger, concurrent ratings of the relationship, and change in marital adjustment over 18 months in 122 married couples. Wives' and husbands' hostility and anger were related to concurrent ratings of marital adjustment and conflict. In prospective analyses, wives' but not husbands' hostility and anger were related to change in marital adjustment. In hierarchical regression and SEM models wives' anger was a unique predictor of both wives' and husbands' change in marital adjustment. The association between wives' anger and change in husbands' marital satisfaction was mediated by husbands' ratings of conflict in the marriage. These results support the role of hostility and anger in the development of psychosocial vulnerability, but also suggest an asymmetry in the effects of wives' and husbands' trait anger and hostility on marital adjustment.
Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2015
Background: Longitudinal studies have implicated both marital distress and depression in the development of the metabolic syndrome, a risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This study addressed the impact of hostile marital interactions and a mood disorder history on obesity-related metabolic responses to high-fat meals. Methods: This double-blind, randomized crossover study included serial assessments of resting energy expenditure (REE), fat and carbohydrate oxidation, triglycerides, insulin, glucose, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-␣) before and after two high-fat meals. During two separate 9.5 h visits, 43 healthy married couples, ages 24-61 (mean = 38.22), received either a high saturated fat meal or a high oleic sunflower oil meal, both 930 kcal and 60 g fat. The Structured Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV assessed mood disorder history. Couples discussed a marital disagreement during both visits; behavioral coding of these interactions provided data on hostile marital behaviors.
Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences
Background: Depression is one of the most important consequences of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), and to control and treat it, it is necessary to identify its direct and indirect triggers and underlying factors. Therefore, the current study aims to evaluate and investigate the mediator role of aggression in the relationship between marital stress and depression. Methods: The sample of current cross-sectional study includes 212 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) in Iran evaluated from Jan to Jun 2017. The required data were gathered using Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) questionnaire, Buss and Perry's Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ), and Hudson's Marital Satisfaction Index (HMSI). The data were analysed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling (SEM) using SPSS20 and AMOS software. Results: The mean age of participants (68.4% male) was 58.5 ± 8.9. The results show that there is a significant positive relationship between all the variables (P < 0.05). The results of the model show that marital stress cannot directly predict depression (P = 0.586). However, through aggression, marital stress can significantly predict 18% of the variance of depression (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Not directly, but indirectly through aggression, marital stress can significantly predict increased depression among patients with CAD. The physiological and psychological pathways of the findings can be discussed.
Psychosomatic Medicine, 2019
Emotional characteristics and processes are robust predictors of the development and course of major medical illnesses and premature mortality, as are a variety of indicators of the presence and quality of personal relationships. Despite clear evidence of close interconnection between these two domains of risk and protection, affective characteristics and relationships have largely been studied separately as influences on health. After a recent conference on integrative perspectives on emotions, relationships and health co-sponsored by the American Psychosomatic Society and the Society for Affective Science, the present review builds on prior calls for integration, related theory, and current research to outline what is known about the interconnection of these domains as it specifically relates to their overlapping influences on health. Areas of interest include the following: their interconnected roles over the course of development, which may inform current efforts to understand the influence of early life events on adult health; the parallel positive and negative factors in both domains that could have distinct influences on health; the role of emotion regulation in relationship contexts; and measurement, design, and analysis approaches to capture the dyadic and dynamic aspects of these interconnected influences on health. We conclude with a discussion of an emerging research agenda that includes the following: common biological foundations of affective and relationship processes, the cultural embeddedness of affective and relationship processes, the potential contribution of affective-relational processes to health disparities, and implications for intervention research.