Biobehavioral Pathways Underlying Spousal Health Dynamics: Its Nature, Correlates, and Consequences

Marriage is a very special relationship that has a high potential to influence physical and mental health throughout the adult lifespan and into old age. In this viewpoint, we propose a model that outlines plausible biobehavioral pathways that may underlie previously established spousal interrelations in long-term health trajectories and discuss specific resources that may facilitate favorable outcomes for everyone involved. Specifically, we focus on spousal associations in physical activity as an important health behavior and in stress-related processes as a key daily-life mechanism, which both reveal effects that may accumulate over time to impact longer-term health outcomes. We also consider spousal resources such as collaborative problem solving and joint goals as psychological variables that characterize the dynamics within a given marriage. We conclude by discussing areas in theory and research that are ripe for further consideration and lay out target questions for future inquiry.Peer Reviewe

Grandparental investment facilitates harmonization of work and family in employed parents: A lifespan psychological perspective

The target article emphasizes the need to identify psychological mechanisms underlying grandparental investment, particularly in low-risk family contexts. We extend this approach by addressing the changing demands of balancing work and family in low-risk families. Taking a lifespan psychological perspective, we identify additional motivators and potential benefits of grandparental investment for grandparents themselves and for subsequent generation

Correspondence Between Retrospective and Momentary Ratings of Positive and Negative Affect in Old Age: Findings From a One-Year Measurement Burst Design

Objectives and Method. Using 5 measurement bursts spanning 1 year, this study examined correspondences between retrospective end-of-year ratings and momentary ratings of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) in 53 older adult participants from the Berlin Aging Study. Results. Average momentary assessments were moderately positively correlated with retrospective ratings of PA and NA. Hierarchical regression analyses further indicate that mean momentary PA best predicted retrospective PA over and above peak or recent momentary PA, whereas no such pattern emerged for NA. No evidence for age differences in these patterns was found. Discussion. Our discussion focuses on the implications of affective memory biases for examining affective experiences as they occur in peoples' daily lives and points to implications concerning methods and theory developmen

Linking Possible Selves and Behavior: Do Domain-Specific Hopes and Fears Translate Into Daily Activities in Very Old Age?

We used time-sampling information from a subsample of the Berlin Aging Study (N = 83; M = 81.1 years) to investigate the link between possible selves in three domains (health, everyday cognition, and social relations) and performance of daily activities. In the domains of health and social relations, hoped-for selves were associated with higher probabilities of performing daily activities in those domains. There were no associations in the cognitive domain or between feared selves and activities. Individuals who engaged in hope-related activities reported concurrent higher positive affect and subsequently had a higher probability of survival over a 10-year period. These findings speak to important associations between beliefs about possible selves and activities in advanced old age and the value of considering associations between microlevel and macrolevel indicators of successful agin

The nature and correlates of self-esteem trajectories in late life

Is it possible to maintain a positive perspective on the self into very old age? Empirical research so far is rather inconclusive, with some studies reporting substantial declines in self-esteem late in life, whereas others report relative stability into old age. In this article, we examine long-term change trajectories in self-esteem in old age and very old age and link them to key correlates in the health, cognitive, self-regulatory, and social domains. To do so, we estimated growth curve models over chronological age and time-to-death using 18-year longitudinal data from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (N = 1,215; age 65–103 years at first occasion; M = 78.8 years, SD = 5.9; women: 45% of sample). Results revealed that self-esteem was, on average, fairly stable with minor declines only emerging in advanced ages and at the very end of life. Examination of the vast between-person differences revealed that lower cognitive abilities and lower perceived control independently related to lower self-esteem. Also, lower cognitive abilities were associated with steeper age-related and mortality-related self-esteem decrements. In our discussion, we consider a variety of challenges that potentially shape self-esteem late in life and highlight the need for more mechanism-oriented research to better understand the pathways underlying stability and change in self-esteem.Australian Research Council DP13010042

In it Together: Relationship Transitions and Couple Concordance in Health and Well-Being

Events that change the family system have the potential to impact couple dynamics such as concordance, that is, partner similarity in health and well-being. This project analyzes longitudinal data (≥ two decades) from both partners of up to 3,501 German and 1,842 Australian couples to investigate how couple concordance in life satisfaction, self-rated health, mental health, and physical health might change with transitioning to parenthood and an empty nest. Results revealed couple concordance in intercepts (averaged r = .52), linear trajectories (averaged r = .55), and wave-specific fluctuations around trajectories (averaged r = .21). Concordance in linear trajectories was stronger after transitions (averaged r = .81) than before transitions (averaged r = .43), whereas no systematic transition-related change in concordance of wave-specific fluctuations was found. Findings emphasize that shared transitions represent windows of change capable of sending couples onto mutual upward or downward trajectories in health and well-being

Political context is associated with everyday cortisol synchrony in older couples

Prior research with predominantly younger to middle-aged samples has demonstrated that couples’ cortisol levels covary throughout the day (cortisol synchrony). Not much is known about cortisol synchrony in old age, and its potential broader societal correlates. The current study investigates associations between the socio-political context and cortisol synchrony as observed in older couples’ daily lives. 160 older German couples (Mage = 72 years, range: 56–89) provided salivary cortisol samples 7 times daily for a 7-day period. Socio-political context was quantified using state-specific voting data from the 2017 German federal election along the left-right political spectrum. Multilevel models controlling for diurnal cortisol rhythm, food intake, sex, age, body mass index, education, and individual-level political orientation revealed evidence for synchrony in partners’ cortisol fluctuations (b = 0.03, p < .001). The extent of cortisol synchrony was moderated by left-right political context, such that older couples living in a federal state placed further right exhibited greater cortisol synchrony than couples living in a federal state placed further left (b = 0.01, p = .015). Findings point to the importance of considering the socio-political context of health-relevant biopsychosocial dynamics in old age. Future research needs to investigate mechanisms underlying such associations, including how politics shape opportunities and motivation for interdependencies that promote better or worse healt

Physical Intimacy in Older Couples’ Everyday Lives: Its Frequency and Links With Affect and Salivary Cortisol

Objectives Physical intimacy is important for communicating affection in romantic relationships. Theoretical and empirical work highlights linkages between physical intimacy, affect, and physiological stress among young and middle-aged adults, but not older adults. We examine physical intimacy and its associations with positive and negative affect and cortisol levels in the daily lives of older couples. Methods We applied actor–partner multilevel models to repeated daily-life assessments of physical intimacy (experienced and wished) and affect obtained 6 times a day over 7 consecutive days from 120 older heterosexual German couples (Mage = 71.6, SDage = 5.94). Physiological stress was indexed as total daily cortisol output, the area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg). Results Physical intimacy experienced and wished were reported at the vast majority of occasions, but to different degrees at different times. Within persons, in moments when participants experienced more physical intimacy, older women reported less negative affect, whereas older men reported more positive affect. Between persons, higher overall levels of physical intimacy experienced were associated with higher positive affect and less negative affect among women and with lower daily cortisol output among men. A stronger wish for intimacy was related to more negative affect among both women and men, and to higher daily cortisol output among men. Discussion Physical intimacy is linked with mood and stress hormones in the daily life of older couples. We consider routes for future inquiry on physical intimacy among older adults.Peer Reviewe

Linked Lives: Exploring Gender and Sedentary Behaviors in Older Adult Couples

Objectives: We explored associations between co-habiting partners for sedentary behavior (type and time, via accelerometry and self-report), gender, and a surrogate health measure (inflammatory biomarker: C-reactive protein, CRP). Methods: Participants completed activity questionnaires and the Timed Up and Go (mobility), wore an accelerometer for 7 days, and provided samples for high-sensitivity (hs) CRP. We used multilevel modeling (partners within couples) to investigate associations between independent variables and (a) sedentary behavior and (b) hsCRP. Results: 112 couples (50% women) provided sedentary data and hsCRP. Sedentary behavior was significantly correlated (r = .440, p men). Gender, moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and mobility estimated 37% of the modeled variance in sedentary time, while body mass index (BMI) and MVPA estimated 10% of the modeled variance in hsCRP. Discussion: Despite differences in how activity was accumulated, there were no significant differences between women’s and men’s health biomarker.Canadian Institutes of Health Research https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000024michael smith foundation for health research https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000245social sciences and humanities research council of canada https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000155university of british columbia https://doi.org/10.13039/501100005247Peer Reviewe

Daily Affect and Daily Prospective Memory in People after Stroke and Their Partners: The Moderating Role of Resting Heart Rate

Introduction: Experimental research suggests that affect may influence prospective memory performance, but real-life evidence on affect-prospective memory associations is limited. Moreover, most studies have examined the valence dimension of affect in understanding the influence of affect on cognitive performance in daily life, with insufficient consideration of the arousal dimension. To maximize ecological validity, the current study examined the relationships between daily affect and daily prospective memory using repeated daily assessments and the role of resting heart rate on these relationships. We examined both valence and arousal of daily affect by categorizing affect into four dimensions: high-arousal positive affect, low-arousal positive affect, high-arousal negative affect, and low-arousal negative affect. Method: We examined existing data collected from community-dwelling couples, of which at least one partner had a stroke history. The analytic sample included 111 adults (Mage = 67.46 years, SD = 9.64; 50% women) who provided 1,274 days of data. Among the participants, 58 were living with the effects of a stroke and 53 were partners. Participants completed daily event-based prospective memory tasks (in morning and/or evening questionnaires), reported daily affect in the evening, and wore a wrist-based Fitbit device to monitor resting heart rate over 14 consecutive days. Results: Results from multilevel models show that, within persons, elevated high-arousal negative affect was associated with worse daily prospective memory performance. In addition, lower resting heart rate attenuated the inverse association between high-arousal negative affect and lowered prospective memory performance. We did not find significant associations of high- or low-arousal positive affect and low-arousal negative affect with daily prospective memory. Discussion: Our findings are in line with the resource allocation model and the cue-utilization hypothesis in that high-arousal negative affect is detrimental to daily prospective memory performance. Lower resting heart rate may buffer individuals’ prospective memory performance from the influence of high-arousal negative affect. These findings are consistent with the neurovisceral integration model on heart-brain connections, highlighting the possibility that cardiovascular fitness may help maintain prospective memory into older adulthood