Mental and Physical Health Consequences of Spousal Health Shocks Among Older Adults

Objective: To examine how the experience of a negative health event (i.e., onset of heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, cancer, or stroke) of one spouse affects the mental and physical well-being of the other partner as measured by depressive symptoms and self-reported health. Methods: We employ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of aging and health 2013-10, Vol.25 (7), p.1121-1142
Main Authors: Valle, Giuseppina, Weeks, Janet A., Taylor, Miles G., Eberstein, Isaac W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Chronic Disease
Depression - diagnosis
Diagnostic Self Evaluation
Family Health
Female
Health technology assessment
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Mental depression
Mental health
Middle Aged
Older people
Personal relationships
Sex Factors
Spouses - psychology
Spouses - statistics & numerical data
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objective: To examine how the experience of a negative health event (i.e., onset of heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, cancer, or stroke) of one spouse affects the mental and physical well-being of the other partner as measured by depressive symptoms and self-reported health. Methods: We employ latent growth curve analysis and examine adults 50+ using six waves of data (1998-2008) from the Health and Retirement Study. Results: One spouse’s health shock affects the health of the other partner. Results indicate that a spouse’s onset of a severe health condition worsens the mental health of women and the self-reported health of men. Discussion: These findings illustrate that the family context of spouses is important to consider when examining health.
ISSN:0898-2643
1552-6887
DOI:10.1177/0898264313494800