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Many authors have underlined the existence of a negative association between marital functioning and psychological distress. However, little is known about the direction of this association over time among older couples. This study examined the relation over time between psychological distress and marital functioning among 394 community-dwelling couples. The authors conducted dyadic data analyses to determine whether marital functioning at baseline (T1) predicted psychological distress 18 months later (T2), and inversely. The results for women suggested that marital and psychological functioning may each predict the other. The results for men showed that marital problems lead to more psychological distress. The authors found some significant partner effects: In both genders, the marital functioning of one spouse influenced the marital functioning of the other. Men's marital functioning at baseline significantly predicted women's psychological distress at T2. The authors conducted analyses also to determine how 6 patterns of change in marital functioning between times were associated with changes in psychological distress, and inversely. Changes characterized by an increase in psychological distress over time in at least 1 spouse were associated with a decrease in marital functioning. These findings underlined the importance for clinicians and researchers to pay closer attention to the association between these variables.

The following study gives results on the association between psychological distress and sexual and marital aspects from the Quebec Health Survey of Older Couples (Enqueˆte sur la sante´des aıˆne´s au Que´bec/Volet Couple). In this study, 508 francophone couples (508 women, 508 men), aged 65 years old and over, answered several questionnaires about psychological distress (e.g. Psychological Distress Index) and marital (e.g. Dyadic adjustment scale) and sexual aspects of their life (e.g. Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory, International Index of Erectile Function, Female Sexual Function Index). Participants answered general questions at home in the presence of an interviewer and they answered to specific questionnaires about their sexuality and marital life on a computer to ensure confidentiality. Results indicate that dyadic adjustment, sexual satisfaction and gender predict psychological distress and explain 14.2% of the variance of psychological distress among older couples. The same predictor variables were found in men and women considered separately. Moreover, participants with low marital functioning show more than twice as much psychological distress and poorer sexual functioning.

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