Cargando…
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...
Autor principal: | |
---|---|
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 |
_version_ | 1783417638965215232 |
---|---|
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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6512053 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | SAGE Publications |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT stavrovaolga havingahappyspouseisassociatedwithloweredriskofmortality |