Hostility and Loneliness in Older Adult Married couples: An Indirect Effect through Friendships

Abstract

Objectives: Hostility is a cognitive schema according to which people cannot be trusted. It has been shown to affect loneliness within individuals. This study takes a dyadic approach to examine whether hostility affects marital partners’ loneliness. We further explore whether the effect of individuals’ hostility on spouses’ loneliness is transmitted through social relationships. Method: We used two waves of the Health and Retirement Study (N=1065 couples) and an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) model to examine the proposed model. Mediation was tested with the construction of path models and significance levels were reached using bootstrapping. Results: Husband’s loneliness was significantly affected by his wife’s hostility, whereas the wife’s loneliness was unaffected by her husband’s hostility. We further found that the harmful effect of wife's hostility on husband's loneliness was transmitted through the husband’s frequency of contact and strain in his relationships with friends. Discussion: For men, being married to a hostile partner can have detrimental consequences for social relationships and loneliness. A hostile spouse's behavior might deter others from social interactions, especially if friendships within the couple are shared, resulting in greater loneliness. Similarly, a hostile spouse might be less interested in social interactions and discourage their partner’s social endeavors. In line with previous studies, wives are less susceptible to their husbands’ hostility, perhaps due to greater social independence