Living alone is associated with adverse outcomes after acute coronary syndromes (ACS). One potential mediator of the relation between partner status and outcomes after ACS is physical activity. To evaluate the association of partner status with physical activity after ACS, data from 107 participants enrolled in the Prescription Use, Lifestyle, and Stress Evaluation (PULSE) study, a prospective ...

OBJECTIVES To explore the effects of a discrepancy between actual and preferred living arrangements on the relationship between living arrangements and life satisfaction among the elderly in China. METHODS Secondary analysis of the 2005 dataset of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey was performed. A binary logistic regression model was used to analyze the relationship between li...

Objectives For older adults coping with a spouse's chronic condition, greater marital satisfaction may not be entirely protective for psychological health. We examined marital satisfaction and gender as moderators of the association between perceived spousal suffering and daily emotional contagion. Based on empathy-altruism and interdependent self-construal theories, we hypothesized that high m...

This study used five waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey to examine the relationship between living arrangements, smoking, and drinking among older adults in China from 1998-2008. We found that living arrangements had strong implications for cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption among the elderly. First, the likelihood of smoking was lower among older men living with ...

The objective of this preliminary study was to examine the extent to which affective marital interaction related to depressive symptoms in persons with chronic pain and their spouses and to pain severity in persons with pain. Couples from the community completed self-report surveys and engaged in a videotaped conversation on a topic of mutual disagreement that was coded for three affect types (...

The transitional compensation (TC) program of the U.S. Army provides financial and other benefits to the families of service members discharged for child or spouse maltreatment. We analyzed the TC records of the 347 offenders, 337 spouses (160 victims and 177 nonvictims) who were applicants for benefits, and 820 children (244 victims and 576 nonvictims). One hundred fifty-two spouses were physi...

Studies on the determinants of pain-related support are needed to enhance couples-based treatments for pain. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which pain catastrophizing and perceived entitlement to pain-related support (i.e., support entitlement) were associated with perceived and observed social support. Participants were 106 chronic pain couples recruited from the comm...

INTRODUCTION There is substantial evidence that marriage is beneficial to health, but evidence on whether the health status of one spouse is similar, or concordant, with the other spouse is limited. This study assessed whether a chronic condition of one spouse is a risk factor for the same chronic condition in the other spouse. METHODS The study used baseline data from the Hispanic Establishe...