Conflict and collaboration in middle-aged and older couples: I. Age differences in agency and communion during marital interaction

Satisfaction, Intimacy and Conflict in Canadian Couples: An Analysis of Change from Adolescence to Adulthood

Romantic relationship qualities are likely to change from adolescence to adulthood. Therefore, we undertook a longitudinal study to examine changes in satisfaction, intimacy, and conflict over this period by simultaneously testing the effects of age, relationship length, and their interaction. These qualities were measured at nine-time points from ages 16 to 30 in a Canadian sample of 337 participants (62.9% women) who reported being in a romantic relationship at least once over this period. The results of multilevel analyses show that satisfaction, intimacy, and conflict decline with age but increase with relationship length. Moreover, age and relationship length were found to have a significant interactive effect on satisfaction and intimacy.

Breaking the cycle of emotional flooding: the protective role of women's emotional intelligence in couple's conflict

INTRODUCTION

One of the most damaging aspects, both for people's well-being and for close relationships, is conflict. Beyond different stressors, the emotions evoked, their regulation and an appropriate conflict resolution strategy will reduce negative consequences. Emotional Intelligence facilitates social relationships, but little applied research has been done on the relationship with couple conflict and emotional flooding, particularly from the perspective of women. Therefore, the present study analyzes the role of Perceived Emotional Intelligence (PEI) and the mediating effect of Positive Conflict Resolution strategies (PCR) in couples' conflicts from women's perspective, examining its effect on Emotional Flooding (EF) and Satisfaction.

METHODS

Through a cross-sectional design, the relationships between variables were analyzed using group comparisons and means of a structural equation model (SEM) in a sample of 692 women.

RESULTS

Significant differences were found between the groups by age, length of relationship, and motherhood. The SEM revealed a good fit. PEI predicted 71.8% of the variance in EF and 35% in Satisfaction through PCR and Conflict.

Interpersonal Competition in Elderly Couples: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Hyperscanning Study

Elderly people tend not to compete with others, and if they do, the mechanism behind the competition is not clear. In this study, groups of elderly couples and matched cross-sex controls were recruited to perform a competitive button-pressing task, while their brain signals were simultaneously collected using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning. Several fundamental observations were made. First, controls showed attenuated interpersonal competition across task processes, but couples held the competition with each other. Second, couples demonstrated increased inter-brain synchronization (IBS) between the middle temporal cortex and the temporoparietal junction across task processes. Third, Granger causality analysis in couples revealed significant differences between the directions (i.e., from men to women, and from women to men) in the first half of the competitive task, whereas there was no significant difference in the second half. Finally, the groups of couples and controls could be successfully discriminated against based on IBS by using a machine-learning approach. In sum, these findings indicate that elderly couples can maintain interpersonal competition, and such maintenance might be associated with changes in the IBS of the mentalizing system. It suggests the possible positive impact of long-term spouse relationships on interpersonal interactions, both behaviorally and neurally, in terms of competition.

"We've Got This": Middle-Aged and Older Couples' Satisfying Relationships and We-Talk Promote Better Physiological, Relational, and Emotional Responses to Conflict

OBJECTIVE

Conflict poses multiple relational and health risks. Dyadic stress theories suggest satisfaction and communication alter cardiovascular and autonomic function, key pathways from troubled relationships to poor health. However, "we-talk," a positive communication pattern, can strengthen relationships and promote health. We examined how each spouse's satisfaction and we-talk were related to conflict's physiological, relational, and emotional toll.

METHODS

Married couples ( n = 107 couples, 214 individuals, ages 40-87 years) who were mostly White, highly educated, and higher-income Americans in different-gender relationships engaged in 20-minute conflict discussions while wearing monitors to assess heart rate variability (HRV). Spouses rated their closeness immediately after conflict and their conflict rumination 2 hours later. Conflict transcriptions measured we-talk, or the proportion of first-person plural pronouns (we, us, our).

RESULTS

Satisfied spouses or those in mutually satisfying relationships had higher HRV during conflict ( b = 0.0001, p = .049), felt closer immediately after conflict ( b = 0.07, p < .001), and ruminated less about the conflict 2 hours later ( b = -0.26, p = .026). Spouses' HRV was highest ( b = 0.0002, p = .002) and rumination was lowest ( b = -0.49, p = .019) when they or their partners were satisfied and used we-talk more often. Women's HRV ( b = 0.0001, p = .035) and rumination ( b = -0.01, p = .02) benefited when both spouses were satisfied, as did closeness when women were satisfied ( b = 0.10, p < .001). Men's closeness benefited when they ( b = 0.04, p = .003) or their wives ( b = 0.04, p = .002) were satisfied.

CONCLUSIONS

The combination of mutually satisfying relationships and we-talk was associated with better relational and health outcomes after conflict. These findings are important for middle-aged and older couples whose relationships are central to their health.

The Story of Us: Older and Younger Couples' Language Use and Emotional Responses to Jointly Told Relationship Narratives

OBJECTIVES

Social-emotional well-being is said to improve over adulthood, and studies of couples' age differences have focused primarily on marital conflict. The way couples discuss their relationship story predicts marital quality among newlyweds and long-married couples alike, yet older and younger couples' accounts have never been compared. The current study examined age differences in couples' use of I/we-talk, emotion words, and immediacy (i.e., an urgent and unresolved style) during a relationship history discussion and their subsequent mood reactivity and appraisals.

METHOD

Married couples (N = 186 individuals within 93 couples, aged 22-77) recounted the story of their relationship then rated the discussion and their negative mood. Mediation models assessed the 3 linguistic features as parallel dyadic mediators linking couple age to negative mood responses and appraisals, controlling for global marital satisfaction, and baseline negative mood. Secondary analyses examined partners' concordance in language use.

RESULTS

Compared with younger couples, older couples used more positive than negative words and less immediacy which, in turn, was associated with husbands' and wives' less negative mood and more positive appraisals, only among husbands. Partners in older couples used more similar I/we-talk and emotional language, but these were unrelated to mood or appraisals.

DISCUSSION

This study extends our understanding of how marital interactions differ by age in the understudied context of relationship history discussions, which may grow increasingly important for couples' well-being with older age. Findings broadly align with social-emotional aging theories and uncover novel linguistic features relevant to the age-related emotional benefits of joint reminiscing.

Partialing Alters Interpersonal Correlates of Negative Affective Symptoms and Traits: A Circumplex Illustration

INTRODUCTION

Negative affective symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression, and anger) are correlated and have parallel associations with outcomes, as do related personality traits (i.e., facets of neuroticism), often prompting statistical control (i.e., partialing) to determine independent effects. However, such adjustments among predictor variables can alter their construct validity. In three studies, the interpersonal circumplex (IPC) and a related analytic approach (i.e., Structural Summary Method) were used to evaluate changes in interpersonal correlates of negative affective characteristics resulting from partialing.

METHODS

Samples of undergraduates (Sample 1 n = 3283; Sample 2 = 688) and married couples (n = 300 couples) completed self-report (three samples) and partner rating (sample 3) measures of anxiety, depression and anger, and IPC measures of interpersonal style.

RESULTS

Anxiety, depression, and anger had expected interpersonal correlates across samples. Partialing depression eliminated interpersonal correlates of anxiety. When anxiety was controlled, depression measures were more strongly associated with submissiveness and less closely associated with low warmth. Adjustments involving anger magnified differences in dominance versus submissiveness associated with the negative affects.

DISCUSSION

Removal of overlap among negative affective measures via partialing alters their interpersonal correlates, potentially complicating interpretation of adjusted associations.

Unraveling the direct and indirect effects between future time perspective and subjective well-being across adulthood

OBJECTIVES

While the socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) argues for a negative relationship between future time perspective (FTP) and subjective well-being (SWB), empirical studies have found contradictory results. The current study resolved the controversy by examining the indirect effect between FTP and SWB through preference of life goals. Age differences in the mediation effects were also tested.

METHOD

A total of 432 participants were surveyed for their FTP, life goals, depression, life satisfaction, and demographical background. The three components of FTP, extension (FTE), opportunity (FTO), and constraint (FTC), were examined respectively. Regression based mediation models were estimated to test the direct and indirect effects between FTP components and SWB. Moderated mediation models were adopted to test age differences in the above effects.

RESULTS

Opposite direct and indirect effects between FTP components and SWB were identified. FTE and FTO were related to relatively fewer present-focused life goals, and then to lower life satisfaction and higher depression. However, FTE and FTO were directly related to higher life satisfaction. FTC was not significantly related to preference of life goals but had a direct positive effect with depression. Moreover, older age attenuated the positive direct effect between FTO and life satisfaction, as well as the negative effect between preference to present-focused goals and depression.

CONCLUSION

The results highlight the critical role of life goal preference for understanding the complex relationship between FTP and subjective well-being. The differential effects of the three FTP components also suggest the importance to examine each component individually in future studies.

Autonomic influences on heart rate during marital conflict: Associations with high frequency heart rate variability and cardiac pre-ejection period

Psychosocial factors predict the development and course of cardiovascular disease, perhaps through sympathetic and parasympathetic mechanisms. At rest, heart rate (HR) is under parasympathetic control, often measured as high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV). During stress, HR is influenced jointly by parasympathetic and sympathetic processes, the latter often quantified as pre-ejection period (PEP). In studies of cardiovascular risk factors that involve social interaction (e.g. marital conflict), HF-HRV might be altered by speech artifacts, weakening its validity as a measure of parasympathetic activity. To evaluate this possibility, we tested associations of HF-HRV and PEP with HR at rest and across periods of marital conflict interaction that varied in experimentally-manipulated degrees of speech in 104 couples. At rest, only HF-HRV was independently related to HR, for both husbands and wives. During speaking, listening, and recovery periods, husbands' and wives' HF-HRV and PEP change independently predicted HR change. These findings support interpretation of HF-HRV as a parasympathetic index during stressful social interactions that may confer risk for cardiovascular disease.

Emotion, Social Relationships, and Physical Health: Concepts, Methods, and Evidence for an Integrative Perspective

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.

Marriage and Gut (Microbiome) Feelings: Tracing Novel Dyadic Pathways to Accelerated Aging

Within a couple, partners influence each other's mental and physical health. This review focuses on how couples' relationships, the partners' individual and joint vulnerabilities, and their health behaviors influence health through changes in the gut microbiota, metabolism, and immune function. Couples' shared stressors and emotions and their intertwined lifestyles and routines serve to promote common disease risks in part through parallel changes in their gut microbiotas. Marital discord, stress, and depression have strong bidirectional links, fueling one another. Chronic marital stress and depression can elevate the risk for obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease by altering resting energy expenditure, insulin production, and triglyceride responses after unhealthy meals. During stressful times, health behaviors typically suffer-and sleep disturbances, poor diets, and sedentary behavior all influence these metabolic pathways while also promoting gut dysbiosis. Dysbiosis increases intestinal permeability (gut leakiness), providing a mechanistic pathway from marital distress and depression to heightened inflammation and accelerated aging. Age-related changes in the gut microbiota's composition and gut leakiness foster immunosenescence, as well as the progression of inflamm-aging; these age-related risks may be altered by stress and depression, diet, sleep, exercise habits, and developmental shifts in emotion regulation strategies. Consideration of the strong mutual influences that partners have on each other's mood and health behaviors, as well as the biological pathways that underlie these influences, provides a new way to view marriage's health implications.

The Digital Divide among Parents and Their Emerging Adult Children: Intergenerational Accounts of Technologically Assisted Family Communication

A great deal of previous research has examined the profound influence of digital communications technology (e.g., texting, videoconferencing, social media usage) on family life. However, few inquiries have explored the contours of technologically assisted communication using qualitative data collected from various family members. Our study breaks new ground by using interview data collected from a split sample of parents and their emerging adult children (interviewed separately) to investigate intergenerational accounts of technologically assisted family communication. Using insights from various theoretical perspectives, we analyze thirty in-depth interviews with middle-aged parents (ages 39–62) and their corresponding emerging adult children (ages 18–29) who use technology as a significant means of communicating with one another. Our analyses reveal two overarching patterns. Discordant accounts reflect disparate intergenerational views of technologically assisted family communication. By contrast, concordant accounts provide evidence of shared intergenerational reflections on technology’s role in family life. These patterns are explained by family life complexities, technology use experiences, and intergenerational norms of communication. Our study confirms that communication technology plays a multifarious role in family life across generational lines. Implications of these findings and promising avenues for future research are discussed.

Marital processes linking economic hardship to mental health: The role of neurotic vulnerability

Both enduring neurotic vulnerabilities and economic hardship have been shown to negatively influence marital behaviors, which have physical and mental health consequences. However, because most previous research is fragmented and has focused on the early years of marriage or relatively short periods of time, their long-term effects are unclear. Using data from the Iowa Midlife Transitions Project, with a sample of 370 married couples providing data from 1991 to 2001, we assessed enduring personal and couple vulnerabilities, trajectories of family economic hardship, and couples' marital hostility using a comprehensive dyadic model to ascertain their influence on subsequent mental health. Couple marital hostility trajectories and neurotic vulnerabilities (both additively and interactively) were associated with changes in both spouses' depressive symptoms. Results also indicated that couples' marital hostility trajectories link trajectories of family economic hardship to subsequent changes in husbands' and wives' depressive symptoms. Last, associations between economic hardship trajectories, marital hostility trajectories, and depressive symptoms were moderated by couples' neurotic vulnerability as captured by a product term of husbands' and wives' neurotic vulnerability. In general, these associations were amplified for couples with a high level of couple vulnerability and weakened (or altogether absent) for those with a low level of vulnerability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Close social ties and health in later life: Strengths and vulnerabilities

The world is aging at an unprecedented rate, with older adults representing the fastest-growing segment of the population in most economically developed and developing countries. This demographic shift leaves much uncharted territory for researchers who study social relationships and health. Social relationships exert powerful influences on physical health in later adulthood, a critical consideration given age-related increases in the prevalence of chronic health conditions and physical disability. A large body of research indicates that older adults report greater satisfaction with their social networks than do younger adults, and that they often take measures to minimize their exposure to negative social encounters. These emotionally satisfying and generally positive social ties afford some health protection against a backdrop of mounting physical limitations and play an important role when juxtaposed with the potentially health-damaging frictions that sometimes emerge in older adults' social relationships. Although most older adults report that they are satisfied with their social ties, some older adults experience frequent conflicts or ambivalent exchanges with members of their social networks, and these experiences detract from their health. In addition, many older adults will experience the loss of one or more close relationships during the course of their lives, with ramifications for their health and, often, for the reorganization of their social lives over time. Understanding how both the strengths and vulnerabilities of close social relationships affect health and well-being in later life is an important goal, particularly in view of the accelerating rate of population aging worldwide. (PsycINFO Database Record

Age differences in adults' daily social interactions: An ecological momentary assessment study

Prevailing research has suggested that social relationships get better with age, but this evidence has been largely based on studies with lengthy reporting intervals. Using an ecological momentary assessment approach, the present study examined age differences in several characteristics of social interactions as reported in near-real time: the frequency, quality, and partner type. Participants (N = 173) ages 20-79 years reported their social interactions at 5 random times throughout the day for 1 week. Results revealed that age was associated with higher frequency of interacting with family and lower frequency of interacting with peripheral partners. These age effects, however, became nonsignificant after accounting for contextual factors such as race, gender, education, employment status, family structure, and living arrangement. In contrast, a curvilinear relationship best characterized age differences in both positive and negative ratings of daily social interaction quality, with middle-aged adults reporting the lowest positive ratings and older adults reporting the lowest negative ratings among all ages. Contextual factors did not account for these patterns of age differences in interaction quality. Furthermore, the intraindividual variability of interaction frequency with peripheral partners, partner diversity, and interaction quality (positivity and negativity) was lower among older adults than among younger adults. Findings from the present study portray a nuanced picture of social interactions in daily life and advance the understanding of social interactions across the life span. (PsycINFO Database Record

A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Marriage from Midlife to Later Life

This prospective longitudinal study explores the relationship between marital functioning at midlife and in later life as measured by global coding of marital interaction process. Couples participated in home interviews at midlife, then again 25 years later. During home interviews at both waves couples completed a questionnaire describing their family, then discussed differences of opinion about the family. Marital system variables were coded by trained coders from taped discussions. Coded measures of the marital interaction supported a relationship between midlife and later life marriage. Connection at midlife was positively related to warmth/support and clear interpersonal boundaries in later life; more connection at midlife was also related to less depression in later life. More individuation at midlife was associated with less conflict in later life. Evidence was also found for enhanced marital functioning in later life: more warmth/support, clearer interpersonal boundaries, more comfort with differences, and less covert conflict.

The Meta Marriage: Links Between Older Couples' Relationship Narratives and Marital Satisfaction

Drawing upon a relatively understudied population and a unique observational task, the current study sought to examine how older couples' interactional behaviors during a relationship narrative task were associated with marital satisfaction over time. Using observational data from a sample of 64 older, higher-functioning married couples, we analyzed a series of Actor-Partner Independence Models (APIM) to explore how couples' interactional behaviors during a relationship narrative task were associated with spouses' marital satisfaction both concurrently and one year later. Analyses revealed that spouses' behaviors (e.g., expressions of positive affect, negative affect, communication skills, engagement) were associated with their self-reported marital satisfaction both at the time of the narrative and with changes in marital satisfaction. We found particularly robust evidence for the role of husbands' negative affect during the narrative task in predicting changes in both spouses' marital satisfaction over time. Our results indicate that researchers and clinicians should carefully consider the influence of development on the associations between spouses' behaviors and marital satisfaction. Further, those seeking to improve marriages in later life may need to consider the meaningful role that gender appears to play in shaping the marital experiences of older couples.

Monitoring Pronouns in Conflicts

Abstract. Conflict communication represents a basic process for the quality of intimate relationships, which is fundamental to well-being over the lifespan. This study investigates the temporal unfolding of different relational perspectives during a conflict situation by monitoring pronoun use in young, middle-aged, and old couples within the theoretical framework of Gottman’s phases of conflict. Our results reveal different trajectories of “I”-, “you”-, and “we”-talk over a conflict conversation in both partners. These trajectories differ between females and males. Furthermore, “you”-talk and “we”-talk differed among the age groups over time. Understanding the temporal dynamics of marital communication as reflected by pronoun use seems promising for a better understanding of conflict related processes in couples over the lifespan.

Assessment of social traits in married couples: Self-reports versus spouse ratings around the interpersonal circumplex

Personality traits predict the quality of intimate relationships, and as a result can be useful additions to assessments of couple functioning. For traits involving social behavior, the affiliation (i.e., warmth, friendliness vs. hostility, quarrelsomeness) and control (i.e., dominance vs. deference, submissiveness) dimensions of the interpersonal circumplex (IPC) are an alternative to the 5-factor model traits of agreeableness and extraversion, given that they may provide a more specific and relevant description of social behavior in the context of couple functioning. The couple context creates an opportunity to supplement commonly used self-reports with informant ratings. Although substantial correlations between self-reports and partner ratings of personality are well-documented, differences between these assessment modalities in levels of affiliation and control have not been examined previously. The present study of 301 middle-aged and older couples addressed this issue by comparing self-reports and spouse ratings, using parallel forms of a measure of the interpersonal circumplex derived from the NEO (Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness) PI-R (Personality Inventory-Revised). Participants reported lower trait dominance relative to spouses' ratings, and less trait hostility. For dominance, this discrepancy was evident at all levels of marital quality, but for hostility it was particularly apparent among couples reporting low marital quality. The tendency to self-report less dominance relative to ratings by spouses was stronger among women than men. These discrepancies may be important in couple assessment and intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record

Affiliation and Control in Marital Interaction

The principle of complementarity in interpersonal theory states that an actor’s behavior tends to “pull, elicit, invite, or evoke” responses from interaction partners who are similar in affiliation (i.e., warmth vs. hostility) and opposite in control (i.e., dominance vs. submissiveness). Furthermore, complementary interactions are proposed to evoke less negative affect and promote greater relationship satisfaction. These predictions were examined in two studies of married couples. Results suggest that complementarity in affiliation describes a robust general pattern of marital interaction, but complementarity in control varies across contexts. Consistent with behavioral models of marital interaction, greater levels of affiliation and lower control by partners—not complementarity in affiliation or control—were associated with less anger and anxiety and greater relationship quality. Partners’ levels of affiliation and control combined in ways other than complementarity—mostly additively, but sometimes synergistically—to predict negative affect and relationship satisfaction.

Daily marital interaction quality and carotid artery intima-medial thickness in healthy middle-aged adults

OBJECTIVE

To examine the association between marital interaction quality during daily life and subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD). Studies have shown that marital status and quality of marriage are associated with cardiovascular health. However, little is known about the role of marital interaction quality during daily life in contributing to these effects.

METHODS

The sample consisted of 281 healthy, employed middle-aged adults who were married or living with a partner in a marital-like relationship (mean age = 42.0 years, 88% white, 52% men). Marital interaction quality was assessed using hourly real-time ecological momentary assessments for 4 days, with participants rating their current or recent partner interactions on positive and negative characteristics (e.g., agreeableness and conflict). Carotid artery intima-medial thickness (IMT) was assessed using ultrasound imaging.

RESULTS

Adjusting for demographics, positive marital interaction was inversely associated with IMT (b = -0.02, F(1,275) = 9.18, p = .002), and negative marital interaction was positively associated with IMT (b = 0.02 F(1,275) = 10.29, p = .001). These associations were not accounted for by behavioral and biological CVD risk factors and were consistent across age, sex, race, and education. The associations were also independent of marital interaction frequency, nonmarital social interaction quality, and personality factors. Global reports of marital quality, in contrast, were not associated with IMT.

CONCLUSIONS

Marital quality as measured during real-time interactions between partners was associated with subclinical CVD in healthy middle-aged adults. This study supports the use of real-time social interaction assessment for characterizing links between social relationships and cardiovascular health.

Subjective social status: construct validity and associations with psychosocial vulnerability and self-rated health

BACKGROUND

Subjective social status (SSS) predicts health outcomes independently of traditional, objective indicators of socioeconomic status (SES). However, the potential confounding and mediating effects of negative affect and similar psychosocial risk and resilience factors have not been adequately addressed through formal studies of convergent and discriminant validity of SSS measures.

PURPOSE

The current study provides such a test of construct validity and subsequently examines whether psychosocial factors mediate the relationship between SSS and self-rated health.

METHODS

We examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the MacArthur scales of SSS relative to measures of psychosocial risk and resilience (i.e., neuroticism, depressive symptoms, optimism, and marital quality) as well as SES (i.e., income) in 300 middle-aged and older married US couples. We also tested a factor of psychosocial vulnerability as a mediator of the relationship between SSS and self-rated health.

RESULTS

Findings indicated clear convergent and discriminant validity of the MacArthur scales. Further, controlling age and income, both the US and community measures of SSS predicted psychosocial factors for men, however, only the community measure was independently predictive for women. Psychosocial vulnerability significantly mediated the pathway between SSS and self-rated health for men and women after controlling age and income.

CONCLUSIONS

These results provide strong support for the construct validity of the MacArthur scales and provide additional evidence of the role of psychosocial risk and resilience factors as mediators of the effects of SSS on health.

Age differences in affective and cardiovascular responses to a negative social interaction: the role of goals, appraisals, and emotion regulation

Older adults often report less affective reactivity to interpersonal tensions than younger individuals, but few studies have directly investigated mechanisms explaining this effect. The current study examined whether older adults' differential endorsement of goals, appraisals, and emotion regulation strategies (i.e., conflict avoidance/de-escalation, self-distraction) during a controlled negative social interaction may explain age differences in affective and cardiovascular responses to the conflict discussion. Participants (N = 159; 80 younger adults, 79 older adults) discussed hypothetical dilemmas with disagreeable confederates. Throughout the laboratory session, participants' subjective emotional experience, blood pressure, and pulse rate were assessed. Older adults generally exhibited less reactivity (negative affect reactivity, diastolic blood pressure reactivity, and pulse rate reactivity) to the task and more pronounced positive and negative affect recovery following the task than did younger adults. Older adults appraised the task as more enjoyable and the confederate as more likeable and more strongly endorsed goals to perform well on the task, which mediated age differences in negative affect reactivity, pulse rate reactivity, and positive affect recovery (i.e., increases in posttask positive affect), respectively. In addition, younger adults showed increased negative affect reactivity with greater use of self-distraction, whereas older adults did not. Together, findings suggest that older adults respond less negatively to unpleasant social interactions than younger adults, and these responses are explained in part by older adults' pursuit of different motivational goals, less threatening appraisals of the social interaction, and more effective use of self-distraction, compared with younger adults.

Marital Conflict in Older Couples: Positivity, Personality, and Health

We examine the implications of health and personality characteristics for late-life marital conflict, using data from the 2010-11 wave of the National Social Life Health and Aging Project (NSHAP), a nationally representative study with data on both partners in 955 marital and cohabitational dyads. Using these data, we relate characteristics of husbands to characteristics of their wives, and vice versa. Wives with husbands in fair or poor physical health are more likely to report high levels of marital conflict, but the reverse is not true. Similarly, wives report more conflict when their husbands are high on Neuroticism, high on Extraversion, and low on a new measure we call Positivity. Our findings point to noteworthy gender differences between men and women in the associations between individual characteristics and levels of marital conflict. We point to differences between husbands' and wives' marital roles as a contributor to these differences.

Marital Conflict in Older Couples: Positivity, Personality, and Health

We examine the implications of health and personality characteristics for late-life marital conflict, using data from the 2010-11 wave of the National Social Life Health and Aging Project (NSHAP), a nationally representative study with data on both partners in 955 marital and cohabitational dyads. Using these data, we relate characteristics of husbands to characteristics of their wives, and vice versa. Wives with husbands in fair or poor physical health are more likely to report high levels of marital conflict, but the reverse is not true. Similarly, wives report more conflict when their husbands are high on Neuroticism, high on Extraversion, and low on a new measure we call Positivity. Our findings point to noteworthy gender differences between men and women in the associations between individual characteristics and levels of marital conflict. We point to differences between husbands' and wives' marital roles as a contributor to these differences.

Effects of couple interactions and relationship quality on plasma oxytocin and cardiovascular reactivity: empirical findings and methodological considerations

Cardiovascular reactivity is a potential mechanism underlying associations of close relationship quality with cardiovascular disease. Two models describe oxytocin as another mechanism. The "calm and connect" model posits an association between positive relationship experiences and oxytocin levels and responses, whereas the "tend and befriend" model emphasizes the effects of negative relationship experiences in evoking oxytocin release. In this study of 180 younger couples, relationship quality had a small, marginally significant inverse association with plasma oxytocin levels, and neither positive nor negative couple interactions evoked change in plasma oxytocin. Negative couple interactions evoked significant cardiovascular reactivity, especially among women. Hence, in the largest study of these issues to date, there was little support for key tenets of the "calm and connect" model, and only very modest support for the "tend and befriend" model. However, findings were consistent with the view that CVR contributes to the effects of relationship difficulties on health.

Marital discord and coronary artery disease: a comparison of behaviorally defined discrete groups

OBJECTIVE

Marital difficulties can confer risk of coronary heart disease, as in a study of outwardly healthy couples (T. W. Smith et al., 2011) where behavioral ratings of low affiliation and high control during marital disagreements were associated with asymptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD). However, taxometric studies suggest that marital discord is more accurately represented by discrete groups, rather than continuous dimensions. To determine if a categorical representation of marital discord was also related to CAD, discordant and nondiscordant groups were identified via cluster analysis in further analyses of the T. W. Smith et al. (2011) study.

METHOD

One hundred fifty healthy couples (M age = 63.5) completed a marital disagreement discussion, self-reports of anxiety and anger during the disagreement, and self-report measures of marital adjustment. CAD was measured as coronary artery calcification (CAC) via computed tomography scans.

RESULTS

In a 2-group cluster solution, 31% of couples were characterized as discordant, with higher levels of hostility and dominance and lower levels of warmth compared with the nondiscordant group. Discordant couples reported lower marital adjustment and greater negative affect during the discussion. Controlling biomedical and behavioral risk factors, discordant couples had greater CAC (p = .029, η² = .035). Discordant and nondiscordant groups defined via self-reported marital adjustment did not differ in CAC (p = .17, η² = .014).

CONCLUSIONS

Marital discord defined categorically and with behavioral observations was associated with greater levels of asymptomatic CAD. Marital discord is associated with higher risk at early stages of coronary heart disease, but commonly used self-reports may underestimate this risk.

Everyday problem solving across the adult life span: solution diversity and efficacy

Everyday problem solving involves examining the solutions that individuals generate when faced with problems that take place in their everyday experiences. Problems can range from medication adherence and meal preparation to disagreeing with a physician over a recommended medical procedure or compromising with extended family members over where to host Thanksgiving dinner. Across the life span, research has demonstrated divergent patterns of change in performance based on the type of everyday problems used as well as based on the way that problem-solving efficacy is operationally defined. Advancing age is associated with worsening performance when tasks involve single-solution or fluency-based definitions of effectiveness. However, when efficacy is defined in terms of the diversity of strategies used, as well as by the social and emotional impact of solution choice on the individual, performance is remarkably stable and sometimes even improves in the latter half of life. This article discusses how both of these approaches to everyday problem solving inform research on the influence that aging has on everyday functioning.

Incremental validity of spouse ratings versus self-reports of personality as predictors of marital quality and behavior during marital conflict

The personality traits of neuroticism and agreeableness are consistently related to marital quality, influencing the individual's own (i.e., actor effect) and the spouse's marital quality (i.e., partner effect). However, this research has almost exclusively relied on self-reports of personality, despite the fact that spouse ratings have been found to have incremental validity over self-reports for a variety of other important outcomes. In a study of 300 middle-aged and older married couples, we examined the incremental validity of spouse ratings of neuroticism and agreeableness in predicting concurrent levels of self-reported marital quality, observations of behavior during a marital disagreement task, and depressive symptoms. Neuroticism and agreeableness had expected actor and partner effects on each of these outcomes. Spouse ratings of these traits demonstrated incremental validity in estimates of actor and partner effects on marital quality, marital behavior, and depressive symptoms. Results suggest that spouse ratings of personality may be important additions to the typical reliance on self-reports for research and clinical assessment in marriage.

The Dynamic Goal Theory of Marital Satisfaction

Marital satisfaction is gaining increasing concern in modern society. The current review proposes the dynamic goal theory of marital satisfaction to integrate previous findings about marital satisfaction from a life span developmental perspective. The theory argues that people have multiple goals to achieve in their marriage. These marital goals can be classified into three categories: personal growth goals, companionship goals, and instrumental goals. The priority of the three types of marital goals is under dynamic changes across adulthood. Generally speaking, young couples emphasize the personal growth goals, middle-aged couples prioritize the instrumental goals, and old couples focus on the companionship goals. Whether the prioritized marital goals are achieved in marriage determines marital satisfaction. Other factors influencing marital satisfaction can be linked with marital goals in two ways. Some factors, such as life transitions and cultural values, can affect the priority of different marital goals; while other factors, such as communication pattern, problem solving, and attribution, can facilitate the achievement of the prioritized marital goals.

Personality disorders in later life: questions about the measurement, course, and impact of disorders

Lifespan perspectives have played a crucial role in shaping our understanding of many forms of psychopathology. Unfortunately, little attention has been given to personality disorders in middle adulthood and later life. Several issues are responsible for this deficiency, including difficulty applying the diagnostic criteria for personality disorders to older people and challenges in identifying appropriate samples of older participants. The goal of this review is to explore the benefits of considering older adults in the study of personality disorders. Later life offers a unique opportunity for investigators to consider links between personality pathology and consequential outcomes in people's lives. Many domains are relevant, including health, longevity, social adjustment, marital relationships, and the experience of major life events. We review each domain and consider ways in which the study of middle-aged and older adults challenges researchers to evaluate how personality disorders in general are defined and measured.

Affiliation and control during marital disagreement, history of divorce, and asymptomatic coronary artery calcification in older couples

OBJECTIVE

To examine behavioral observations of affiliation (ie, warmth versus hostility) and control (ie, dominance versus submissiveness) and prior divorce as predictors of coronary artery calcification (CAC) in older couples. In some but not all studies, marital disruption and low marital quality have been shown to confer risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). Inconsistencies might reflect limitations of self-reports of marital quality compared with behavioral observations. Also, aspects of marital quality related to CAD might differ for men and women.

METHODS

Couples underwent computed tomography scans for CAC and marital assessments, including observations of laboratory-based disagreement. Participants were 154 couples (mean age, 63.5 years; mean length of marriage, 36.4 years) free of prior diagnosis of CAD.

RESULTS

Controlling traditional risk factors, we found behavioral measures of affiliation (low warmth) accounted for 6.2% of variance in CAC for women, p < .01, but not for men. Controlling behavior (dominance) accounted for 6.0% of variance in CAC for men, p < .02, but not for women. Behavioral measures were related to self-reports of marital quality, but the latter were unrelated to CAC. History of divorce predicted CAC for men and women.

CONCLUSIONS

History of divorce and behavioral--but not self-report--measures of marital quality were related to CAD, such that low warmth and high dominance conferred risk for women and men, respectively. Prior research might underestimate the role of marital quality in CAD by relying on global self-reports of this risk factor.

Personal, family and social functioning among older couples concordant and discordant for high-risk alcohol consumption

AIMS

This study compares the personal, family and social functioning of older husbands and wives concordant or discordant for high-risk alcohol consumption and identifies predictors of changes in concordance and high-risk consumption.

DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS, MEASUREMENTS

Three groups of couples were identified at baseline and followed 10 years later: (i) concordant couples in which husbands and wives engaged in low-risk alcohol consumption (n = 54); (ii) concordant couples in which husbands and wives engaged in high-risk alcohol consumption (n = 38); and (iii) discordant couples in which one partner engaged in high-risk alcohol consumption and the other partner did not (n = 75). At each follow-up, husbands and wives completed an inventory that assessed their personal, family and social functioning.

FINDINGS

Compared to the low-risk concordant group, husbands and wives in the high-risk concordant group were more likely to rely on tension-reduction coping, reported more friend approval of drinking, and were less involved in religious activities; however, they did not differ in the quality of the spousal relationship. The frequency of alcohol consumption declined among husbands in discordant couples, but not among husbands in concordant couples. Predictors of high-risk drinking included tension-reduction coping, friend approval of drinking and, for husbands, their wives' level of drinking.

CONCLUSIONS

High-risk and discordant alcohol consumption do not seem to be linked to decrements in family functioning among older couples in long-term stable marriages. The predictors of heavy alcohol consumption among older husbands and wives identify points of intervention that may help to reduce their high-risk drinking.

Strength and vulnerability integration: a model of emotional well-being across adulthood

The following article presents the theoretical model of strength and vulnerability integration (SAVI) to explain factors that influence emotion regulation and emotional well-being across adulthood. The model posits that trajectories of adult development are marked by age-related enhancement in the use of strategies that serve to avoid or limit exposure to negative stimuli but by age-related vulnerabilities in situations that elicit high levels of sustained emotional arousal. When older adults avoid or reduce exposure to emotional distress, they often respond better than younger adults; when they experience high levels of sustained emotional arousal, however, age-related advantages in emotional well-being are attenuated, and older adults are hypothesized to have greater difficulties returning to homeostasis. SAVI provides a testable model to understand the literature on emotion and aging and to predict trajectories of emotional experience across the adult life span.

Social ties and cardiovascular function: an examination of relationship positivity and negativity during stress

The quality and quantity of one's relationships have been reliably linked to morbidity and mortality. More recently, studies have focused on links between relationships and cardiovascular reactivity as a physiological mechanism via the stress-buffering hypothesis. However, not all social relationships are consistently positive which points to the importance of a more comprehensive examination of relationship that includes negative qualities. In this study, we manipulated relationship positivity and negativity with an experimenter and examined its influence on cardiovascular reactivity. Results revealed that relationship positivity was associated with lower systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity for men and women. Relationship negativity, on the other hand, was related to less of an increase in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) reactivity in men. Internal analyses showed that perceptions of positivity and negativity interacted such that high positivity/high negativity perceptions (ambivalence) were related to the highest SBP reactivity. Results of this study suggest that the quality of one's relationships is an important moderator of cardiovascular reactivity during stress.

Conflict and collaboration in middle-aged and older couples: II. Cardiovascular reactivity during marital interaction

Marital strain confers risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), perhaps though cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stressful marital interactions. CVR to marital stressors may differ between middle-age and older adults, and types of marital interactions that evoke CVR may also differ across these age groups, as relationship contexts and stressors differ with age. The authors examined cardiovascular responses to a marital conflict discussion and collaborative problem solving in 300 middle-aged and older married couples. Marital conflict evoked greater increases in blood pressure, cardiac output, and cardiac sympathetic activation than did collaboration. Older couples displayed smaller heart rate responses to conflict than did middle-aged couples but larger blood pressure responses to collaboration-especially in older men. These effects were maintained during a posttask recovery period. Women did not display greater CVR than men on any measure or in either interaction context, though they did display greater parasympathetic withdrawal. CVR to marital conflict could contribute to the association of marital strain with CVD for middle-aged and older men and women, but other age-related marital contexts (e.g., collaboration among older couples) may also contribute to this mechanism.