Own and partner pain intensity in older couples: longitudinal effects on depressive symptoms

Abstract

Chronic pain has been linked to depression among individuals and their partners. Yet, little is known about long-term mutual influences between pain intensity and depressive symptoms within couples as they age. Using a nationally representative U.S. sample of wives and husbands aged 50 and older (mean = 64.53, SD = 7.86), this study explored the links between own and partner pain intensity and depressive symptoms across an 8-year period. A total of 963 heterosexual married couples drawn from the Health and Retirement Study completed interviews biennially from 2006 to 2014. Dyadic growth curve models examined mutual associations within couples and controlled for sociodemographic characteristics, length of marriage, and marital quality, along with self-rated health, number of chronic health conditions, and functional disability. For wives and husbands, their own greater baseline pain intensity was significantly linked to their own higher levels of depressive symptoms. Unexpectedly, wives with greater baseline pain intensity reported decreases in their depressive symptoms over time. There were also partner effects such that husbands’ greater pain intensity at baseline was associated with increases in wives’ depressive symptoms over time. Findings highlight the importance of considering both individual and spousal associations between pain intensity and depressive symptoms in later life. Understanding how individual and couple processes unfold may yield critical insights for the development of intervention and prevention efforts to maintain mental health among older chronic pain patients and their spouses.

Chronic condition discordance and physical activity among midlife and older couples.

“…Most middle-aged and older adults with one or more chronic conditions are married and have a spouse who is also chronically ill (Piette et al, 2010). Spouses are interdependent in their physical activity levels (e.g., Li et al, 2013; Monin et al, 2016) and show lasting mutual influences involving a variety of related health indicators including chronic conditions, pain intensity, functional limitations, and depressive symptoms (e.g., Hoppmann et al, 2011; Polenick et al, 2017; Polenick et al, 2018; Thomeer, 2016). Consequently, it is important to consider discordance in chronic conditions at both the individual level (i.e., within individuals) and the couple level (i.e., between spouses), along with links to physical activity over time.…”

“…Wives and husbands often vary in how they affect their own and their partners’ health outcomes over time (e.g., Ayotte et al, 2013; Franks et al, 2012; Li et al, 2013; Polenick et al, 2017; Polenick et al, 2018; Thomeer, 2016). We posit that own and partner individual-level chronic condition discordance and couple-level chronic condition discordance may be more strongly linked to physical activity among wives than husbands.…”

Conjoint Therapy for the Treatment of Chronic Pain: A Descriptive Pilot Study of Couples’ Needs

“…The small sample prevented the examination of gender differences. This is a notable limitation given the differential interpersonal patterns that are found in couples with a male versus female pain sufferer (e.g., 30,35,37). The generalizability of these results is also potentially limited by a self-selection bias and the inclusion criteria.…”