Department of Psychology, Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Department of Gender in Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2022 Aug 11;77(8):1416-1430. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbac037.
Physical intimacy is important for communicating affection in romantic relationships. Theoretical and empirical work highlights linkages between physical intimacy, affect, and physiological stress among young and middle-aged adults, but not older adults. We examine physical intimacy and its associations with positive and negative affect and cortisol levels in the daily lives of older couples.
We applied actor-partner multilevel models to repeated daily-life assessments of physical intimacy (experienced and wished) and affect obtained 6 times a day over 7 consecutive days from 120 older heterosexual German couples (Mage = 71.6, SDage = 5.94). Physiological stress was indexed as total daily cortisol output, the area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg).
Physical intimacy experienced and wished were reported at the vast majority of occasions, but to different degrees at different times. Within persons, in moments when participants experienced more physical intimacy, older women reported less negative affect, whereas older men reported more positive affect. Between persons, higher overall levels of physical intimacy experienced were associated with higher positive affect and less negative affect among women and with lower daily cortisol output among men. A stronger wish for intimacy was related to more negative affect among both women and men, and to higher daily cortisol output among men.
Physical intimacy is linked with mood and stress hormones in the daily life of older couples. We consider routes for future inquiry on physical intimacy among older adults.
身体亲密对于表达浪漫关系中的情感非常重要。理论和实证研究强调了身体亲密、情感以及年轻和中年成年人的生理压力之间的联系，但没有涉及老年人。我们考察了身体亲密及其与积极和消极情感以及皮质醇水平在老年夫妇日常生活中的关联。
我们应用演员-伴侣多层次模型，对 120 对德国老年异性恋夫妇在 7 天内每天 6 次重复进行了身体亲密（体验和期望）和情感的日常生活评估（Mage = 71.6，SDage = 5.94）。生理应激被作为总皮质醇日输出（AUCg）的曲线下面积来衡量。
在绝大多数情况下都报告了身体亲密的体验和期望，但在不同的时间有不同的程度。在个体内部，当参与者体验到更多的身体亲密时，老年女性报告的消极情感较少，而老年男性报告的积极情感较多。在个体之间，体验到的身体亲密程度总体较高与女性的积极情感更高、消极情感更低以及男性的日皮质醇输出更低有关。对亲密的强烈渴望与女性和男性的消极情感更多以及男性的日皮质醇输出更高有关。
身体亲密与老年夫妇日常生活中的情绪和应激激素有关。我们考虑了未来对老年人身体亲密的研究途径。
