Zhaoyang Ruixue, Martire Lynn M
Center for Healthy Aging, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2021 Jan 18;76(2):380-390. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbaa029.
Relationships with confidants play an important role in older adults' health and well-being. Particularly, family and friend confidants could significantly support or interfere with older adults' marital relationships. This study used a dyadic approach to examine the influence of the structural features of both spouses' family and friend confidant networks on older couples' marital quality over 5 years.
Analyses used dyadic data from Wave 2 (2010-2011) and Wave 3 (2015-2016) interviews of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling older adults. Longitudinal actor-partner interdependence models were used to examine the influence of spouses' family and friend confidant networks on couples' marital quality.
Having a larger friend confidant network or closer connections with friend confidants predicted greater marital quality for wives and husbands 5 years later. Larger family confidant networks of both spouses predicted greater marital quality for wives over time. However, husbands reported worse marital quality over time if wives reported having closer connections with their own family confidants at baseline.
This study demonstrates the importance of family and friend confidant networks for older couples' marital quality and highlights the benefits of having a larger or closer friend confidant network. Future research should examine mechanisms that account for the effects of spouses' family and friend confidant networks on older couples' marital quality.
与知己的关系在老年人的健康和幸福中起着重要作用。特别是，家人和朋友知己可能会显著支持或干扰老年人的婚姻关系。本研究采用二元方法，考察了配偶双方的家人和朋友知己网络的结构特征对老年夫妇5年婚姻质量的影响。
分析使用了来自全国社会生活、健康与老龄化项目（NSHAP）第二轮（2010 - 2011年）和第三轮（2015 - 2016年）访谈的二元数据，该项目是社区居住老年人的全国代表性样本。纵向行为者 - 伴侣相互依赖模型用于考察配偶的家人和朋友知己网络对夫妻婚姻质量的影响。
拥有更大的朋友知己网络或与朋友知己有更紧密的联系预示着5年后夫妻双方的婚姻质量更高。随着时间的推移，配偶双方拥有更大的家人知己网络预示着妻子的婚姻质量更高。然而，如果妻子在基线时报告与自己的家人知己有更紧密的联系，丈夫报告的婚姻质量会随着时间的推移而变差。
本研究证明了家人和朋友知己网络对老年夫妇婚姻质量的重要性，并强调了拥有更大或更紧密的朋友知己网络的好处。未来的研究应该考察解释配偶的家人和朋友知己网络对老年夫妇婚姻质量影响的机制。
