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Marital Quality and Health Over 20 Years: A Growth Curve Analysis
Author(s) -
Miller Richard B.,
Hollist Cody S.,
Olsen Joseph,
Law David
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/jomf.12025
Subject(s) - happiness , psychology , latent growth modeling , life course approach , quality of life (healthcare) , cohort , physical health , demography , marital status , cohort study , gerontology , developmental psychology , medicine , mental health , population , social psychology , psychiatry , sociology , psychotherapist , pathology
Although there is substantial evidence linking marital quality to physical health, few studies have been longitudinal. This study examined data from the Marital Instability Over the Life Course Study; 1,681 married individuals followed for 20 years were included in these analyses. In order to control for life course effects, participants were divided into 2 cohorts: early life and midlife. On the basis of latent growth curve analysis, the results indicated that initial values of marital happiness and marital problems were significantly associated with the initial value of physical health among both cohorts. In addition, the slope of marital happiness was significantly associated with the slope of physical health among the younger cohort, and the slope of marital problems was significantly associated with the slope of physical health among the midlife cohort. These results provide evidence of the significant association between positive and negative dimensions of marital quality and physical health over the life course .