Aging is not only influenced by individual perceptions, but also by the dynamics of intimate relationships, especially between couples. Psychology and aging We investigated how older couples perceive their own aging process and how these perceptions, when shared or different, affect couples’ mental health.
Previous research has shown that self-perceptions of aging (SPA) play an important role in determining how individuals cope with age-related changes and maintain their health. However, little attention has been paid to how these perceptions interact in dyadic relationships, where partners’ views and mental health are often interconnected. In this study, researchers Meng Huo and Kyungmin Kim filled this gap by examining how couples’ SPA forms distinct profiles and how these profiles relate to changes in depressive symptoms over time.
The researchers utilized data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative, comprehensive longitudinal survey of Americans age 50 and older. The survey includes measures of positive and negative SPAs, demographic information, health status, and marital quality. This particular data was drawn from waves collected in 2012 and 2014, as well as follow-up surveys in 2014 and 2016. The final sample included 7,700 participants, including 3,850 heterosexual couples.
SPA was assessed using an 8-item scale adapted from the Attitudes Towards Own Aging Scale. Four items measured positive SPA (e.g., “I am as happy now as I was when I was younger”) and four items measured negative SPA (e.g., “Things only get worse as I get older”) Participants rated their agreement with each statement on a 6-point scale. Marital quality was assessed on a 4-point scale using a 7-item scale assessing spouses’ understanding, reliability, openness, and negative interactions (e.g., criticism).
Depressive symptoms were measured using a shortened version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Participants responded (yes/no) whether they had experienced each of eight symptoms (e.g., feeling depressed, having trouble sleeping) in the past week. Participants also reported demographic and health information.
Huo and Kim identified five different profiles of couples’ SPA: Approximately 20% of couples fell into the “similarly positive” profile, where both partners reported high positive SPA and low negative SPA; the other 6% of couples fell into the “similarly negative” profile, where both partners reported low positive SPA and high negative SPA.
The most common profile, “similarly average,” accounted for 38% of couples who reported SPA close to the average level of the sample. In the “husband-negative” profile, which accounted for 20% of couples, wives reported average SPA and husbands showed particularly high negative SPA. Conversely, the “wife-negative” profile included 17% of couples, in which husbands reported average SPA and wives showed particularly high negative SPA.
The main predictors of these profiles were minority status, health, and marital quality. Minority wives were more likely to fit the positive profile and less likely to fit the negative profile. Employed wives were more likely to fit their husbands’ negative profiles, whereas husbands’ employment status had no significant effect.
Improved self-rated health and fewer functional limitations were associated with similarly positive profiles for both spouses and inversely associated with similarly negative profiles. Higher marital quality was associated with a higher likelihood of similarly positive and similarly average profiles and a lower likelihood of a profile with negative SPA.
Couples with similarly positive and similarly average profiles experienced the least increase in depressive symptoms over the 2-year follow-up period. Conversely, couples with similarly negative profiles reported the greatest increase in depressive symptoms. Husbands with husband-negative profiles reported significantly greater increases in depressive symptoms compared with husbands with wife-negative profiles. Wives with wife-negative profiles reported greater increases in depressive symptoms over time compared with wives with similarly positive and similarly average profiles.
Overall, these findings highlight the importance of a shared positive self-perception about ageing among couples as a protective factor for mental health.
The focus on opposite-sex couples is a limitation, limiting the generalizability of the findings to same-sex couples. Additionally, the cross-sectional nature of the data used to derive the dyadic profiles does not capture how SPA evolves over time within the same couple.
The study, “Dyadic Profiles of Self-Perceived Aging in Couples: Implications for Mental Health,” was written by Meng Huo and Kyungmin Kim.
