Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Psychology Department, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2024 May 1;79(5). doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbae027.
Women tend to ruminate more than men, and are generally more hypervigilant to the emotions of others in order to maintain positive social ties. Thus, compared to men, women may ruminate more when their social partners have greater life stresses. However, the literature on stressful events typically focuses on individuals' experiences and perceptions of stressors experienced by specific social ties such as spousal partners and adult children. The purpose of this study was to examine links between perceptions of a broad array of family and nonfamily social partner stresses and daily rumination among older men and women.
Adults aged 65 and older (N = 293, 55% women) completed baseline assessments of family and nonfamily life stressors and 5-6 consecutive nightly assessments regarding rumination, interpersonal tensions, worries, and support provision.
Multilevel structural equation models revealed that perceptions of greater family and nonfamily life stressors were associated with greater rumination. The links between family stress and rumination varied by gender: family stress was related to greater rumination among women and not men. Moreover, among women, family and nonfamily stress-rumination links were accounted for by greater daily worries about others, and among men, the nonfamily stress-rumination link was due to greater interpersonal tensions as well as daily worries.
These findings may be due in part to gender role socialization and women's greater kin-keeping and investment in family ties.
女性比男性更容易沉思，并且通常对他人的情绪更加敏感，以维持积极的社会关系。因此，与男性相比，当女性的社交伴侣面临更大的生活压力时，她们可能会更多地沉思。然而，关于压力事件的文献通常侧重于个体对特定社交关系（如配偶和成年子女）所经历的压力源的个人体验和感知。本研究的目的是探讨广泛的家庭和非家庭社交伴侣压力源的感知与老年男女日常沉思之间的联系。
年龄在 65 岁及以上的成年人（N=293，女性占 55%）完成了家庭和非家庭生活压力源的基线评估，以及关于沉思、人际紧张、担忧和支持提供的 5-6 次连续夜间评估。
多层次结构方程模型显示，感知到更多的家庭和非家庭生活压力源与更多的沉思有关。家庭压力与沉思之间的联系因性别而异：家庭压力与女性的沉思增加有关，而与男性无关。此外，在女性中，家庭和非家庭压力与沉思之间的联系归因于对他人的担忧增加，而在男性中，非家庭压力与沉思之间的联系归因于人际紧张以及日常担忧。
这些发现部分可能归因于性别角色社会化和女性在家庭关系中的更大亲属关系维护和投资。
