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Having a Happy Spouse Is Associated With Lowered Risk of Mortality

Studies have shown that individuals’ choice of a life partner predicts their life outcomes, from their relationship satisfaction to their career success. The present study examined whether the reach of one’s spouse extends even further, to the ultimate life outcome: mortality. A dyadic survival anal...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Stavrova, Olga
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6512053/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30897032
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797619835147
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author Stavrova, Olga
author_facet Stavrova, Olga
author_sort Stavrova, Olga
collection PubMed
description Studies have shown that individuals’ choice of a life partner predicts their life outcomes, from their relationship satisfaction to their career success. The present study examined whether the reach of one’s spouse extends even further, to the ultimate life outcome: mortality. A dyadic survival analysis using a representative sample of elderly couples (N = 4,374) followed for up to 8 years showed that a 1-standard-deviation-higher level of spousal life satisfaction was associated with a 13% lower mortality risk. This effect was robust to controlling for couples’ socioeconomic situation (e.g., household income), both partners’ sociodemographic characteristics, and baseline health. Exploratory mediation analyses pointed toward partner and actor physical activity as sequential mediators. These findings suggest that life satisfaction has not only intrapersonal but also interpersonal associations with longevity and contribute to the fields of epidemiology, positive psychology, and relationship research.
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spelling pubmed-65120532019-06-12 Having a Happy Spouse Is Associated With Lowered Risk of Mortality Stavrova, Olga Psychol Sci Short Report Studies have shown that individuals’ choice of a life partner predicts their life outcomes, from their relationship satisfaction to their career success. The present study examined whether the reach of one’s spouse extends even further, to the ultimate life outcome: mortality. A dyadic survival analysis using a representative sample of elderly couples (N = 4,374) followed for up to 8 years showed that a 1-standard-deviation-higher level of spousal life satisfaction was associated with a 13% lower mortality risk. This effect was robust to controlling for couples’ socioeconomic situation (e.g., household income), both partners’ sociodemographic characteristics, and baseline health. Exploratory mediation analyses pointed toward partner and actor physical activity as sequential mediators. These findings suggest that life satisfaction has not only intrapersonal but also interpersonal associations with longevity and contribute to the fields of epidemiology, positive psychology, and relationship research. SAGE Publications 2019-03-21 2019-05 /pmc/articles/PMC6512053/ /pubmed/30897032 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797619835147 Text en © The Author(s) 2019 http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle Short Report
Stavrova, Olga
Having a Happy Spouse Is Associated With Lowered Risk of Mortality
title Having a Happy Spouse Is Associated With Lowered Risk of Mortality
title_full Having a Happy Spouse Is Associated With Lowered Risk of Mortality
title_fullStr Having a Happy Spouse Is Associated With Lowered Risk of Mortality
title_full_unstemmed Having a Happy Spouse Is Associated With Lowered Risk of Mortality
title_short Having a Happy Spouse Is Associated With Lowered Risk of Mortality
title_sort having a happy spouse is associated with lowered risk of mortality
topic Short Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6512053/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30897032
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797619835147
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