Marital Quality and Physical Health: A Meta-Analysis

Presented by: Richard Miller, Jerevie Canlas, Jeffrey Jackson

131 reports on the relationship between marital quality and physical health were reviewed and synthesized with meta-analytic procedures. Better marital quality was significanlty correlated with fewer cardiovascular issues, better perceived health, and poorer functional health; positive relationship interaction was associated with fewer cardiovascular issues; and negative relationship interaction was significantly correlated with more cardiovascular issues, poorer perceived health, poorer functional health, and more negative health indicators. Importance of the different dimensions of dyadic relationships and the role of gender in examining the associations of marital quality and health are highlighted. Keywords: marital quality, positive interaction, negative interaction, physical health.

Social Capital Access and Psychological Distress for Intermarried Persons

Presented by: Juyoung Jang, Sharon Danes

Based on Bourdieu's social capital theory, the association between social capital access and psychological distress for intermarried persons was examined. The study sample included 11,483 intramarried persons and 1,392 intermarried persons from the 2001 Integrated Health Interview Series. Log-linked gamma generalized linear models revealed that the association between social capital access and psychological distress was stronger for interracial married persons and intermarried persons with non-White spouse than for intramarried persons. The association was weaker for intermarried persons with White spouse than for intramarried persons. Implications of these findings for practitioners are discussed.

Ambivalence in the Context of Spousal Caregiving

Presented by: Heejeong Choi, Jamie Storme, Karlie Esworthy

This study investigated ambivalence among midlife and older couples in the context of spouse care. Building on existing qualitative studies of spouse care, we examined ambivalence quantitatively as a relational outcome of transitioning into the roles of spouse caregiver and care receiver, using a nationally representative sample of heterosexual married couples from the Health and Retirement Study. Findings suggest that transitioning into spouse caregiving was associated with greater ambivalence for older caregivers in contrast to receiving no-care. The opposite trend was observed for middle-aged caregivers. Neither midlife nor older care receivers experienced changes in ambivalence compared to the no-care group.

(NCFR Innovation Grant winner) The Role of Family Relationships in Adherence to Supplemental Oxygen Therapy

Presented by: Kristen Holm, Mark Aloia, Katherine Sterba, Jeffrey Swigris, Frederick Wamboldt

Research has not led to a comprehensive understanding of how families influence adherence to medical therapy. An innovative development in adherence research is assessing dyadic efficacy, teamwork standards, and health-related social control. Dyadic efficacy reflects beliefs about family members' ability to work together to overcome barriers to adherence. Teamwork standards reflects beliefs about whether family members should work together to overcome these barriers. Health-related social control refers to behaviors such as nagging that aim to promote adherence. The focus of this project is to validate measures of these novel constructs for use with individuals who are prescribed supplemental oxygen therapy.