Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis.
Department of Child Development and Family Studies, College of Human Ecology, Seoul National University.
Psychol Aging. 2024 Mar;39(2):153-165. doi: 10.1037/pag0000801.
The way older adults perceive their own aging processes influences their mental health, but we know little about how this occurs in a dyadic context, where spouses' perceptions and health are often intertwined. The present study sought to identify dyadic profiles of self-perceptions of aging (SPAs) in couples and examine how certain profiles are associated with each partner's mental health over time. A pooled sample of 3,850 heterosexual couples aged 50+ in the Health and Retirement Study (2012/2014) rated positive and negative SPAs and provided data on demographic characteristics, couple relationships, and health. We tracked these couples' depressive symptoms over 2 years (2014/2016). Latent profile analysis revealed five profiles of couples' SPAs: similarly positive (20%), similarly negative (6%), similarly average (38%), husband negative (20%), and wife negative (17%). Physical health and marital quality consistently differentiated couples in profile membership. Couples with similarly positive and similarly average SPAs reported the smallest increases in depressive symptoms over time, and couples with similarly negative SPAs fared worst in mental health. We observed interesting gender differences across profiles; husbands in the husband negative profile reported significantly greater increases in depressive symptoms than those in the wife negative profile. Yet, wives in these two profiles did not differ in their depressive symptoms over time, and they reported worse mental health than wives in the similarly positive and similarly average profiles. This study adds to the emerging literature that advocates for an interpersonal approach to SPAs and reveals risk and resilience in couples as they age together. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
老年人对自身衰老过程的看法会影响他们的心理健康，但我们对这一过程在配偶关系中是如何发生的知之甚少，因为在这种关系中，配偶的看法和健康往往交织在一起。本研究旨在确定夫妻双方自我衰老感知（SPA）的对偶特征，并探讨某些特征如何随时间推移与每个伴侣的心理健康相关。在健康与退休研究（2012/2014 年）中，我们对 3850 对年龄在 50 岁以上的异性夫妻进行了 pooled 样本分析，这些夫妻对 SPA 的积极和消极方面进行了评分，并提供了人口特征、夫妻关系和健康方面的数据。我们跟踪了这些夫妻在 2 年内（2014/2016 年）的抑郁症状。潜在剖面分析揭示了夫妻 SPA 的五个特征：相似积极（20%）、相似消极（6%）、相似平均（38%）、丈夫消极（20%）和妻子消极（17%）。身体健康和婚姻质量始终能区分特征群体中的夫妻。具有相似积极和相似平均 SPA 的夫妻随着时间的推移报告抑郁症状增加最小，而具有相似消极 SPA 的夫妻在心理健康方面表现最差。我们在特征群体中观察到有趣的性别差异；在丈夫消极特征群体中的丈夫报告的抑郁症状增加显著大于妻子消极特征群体中的丈夫。然而，这两个特征群体中的妻子在随时间推移的抑郁症状方面没有差异，她们报告的心理健康状况比相似积极和相似平均特征群体中的妻子差。这项研究增加了倡导 SPA 人际方法的新兴文献，并揭示了夫妻随着年龄增长的风险和适应能力。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2024 APA，保留所有权利）。
