Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington.
Health Psychol. 2018 Jan;37(1):28-36. doi: 10.1037/hea0000573. Epub 2017 Nov 20.
Depressive symptoms in middle and later life are associated with an increased risk of greater medical morbidity (i.e., number of chronic health conditions). Yet little is known about mutual influences that may occur within married couples. This study examined the effects of wives' and husbands' depressive symptoms on their own and their partner's number of chronic health conditions over an 8-year period. It was also determined whether these effects varied by gender.
The U.S. sample included 992 heterosexual couples (M = 63.58 years at baseline) drawn from 5 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2014). Dyadic growth curve models were estimated to evaluate the effects of own and partner baseline depressive symptoms on medical morbidity across time. Models controlled for baseline marital duration and negative marital quality along with age, education, minority status, health-related self-efficacy, body mass index, disability status, alcohol use, smoking, and moderate and vigorous physical activity.
Husbands' higher baseline depressive symptoms were significantly linked to their own higher number of chronic conditions. When wives had higher depressive symptoms at baseline, husbands showed significantly greater increases in their number of chronic conditions over time. Own and partner depressive symptoms were not significantly associated with baseline levels or changes in wives' number of chronic conditions.
This study demonstrates that depressive symptoms within middle-aged and older couples may have long-term associations with medical morbidity. Findings underscore the value of considering the implications of depressive symptoms for chronic health conditions among individuals and couples. (PsycINFO Database Record
中老年人群的抑郁症状与更高的医疗发病率（即，慢性健康状况的数量）有关。然而，人们对夫妻之间可能发生的相互影响知之甚少。本研究考察了妻子和丈夫的抑郁症状对其自身和伴侣在 8 年内慢性健康状况数量的影响。还确定了这些影响是否因性别而异。
该研究的美国样本包括来自健康与退休研究（2006-2014 年）5 个波次的 992 对异性夫妻（基线时的平均年龄为 63.58 岁）。使用二元增长曲线模型来评估自身和伴侣基线抑郁症状对跨时间的医疗发病率的影响。模型控制了基线婚姻持续时间和负面婚姻质量以及年龄、教育、少数族裔地位、与健康相关的自我效能、体重指数、残疾状况、酒精使用、吸烟以及适度和剧烈的身体活动。
丈夫基线时更高的抑郁症状与自身更高的慢性疾病数量显著相关。当妻子基线时抑郁症状较高时，丈夫在随访期间慢性疾病数量的增长显著增加。自身和伴侣的抑郁症状与妻子基线时的慢性疾病数量或变化没有显著关联。
本研究表明，中年和老年夫妇之间的抑郁症状可能与长期的医疗发病率有关。研究结果强调了考虑抑郁症状对个体和夫妇的慢性健康状况的影响的重要性。
