Marital support, psychological distress, and disability among community-dwelling older couples: A longitudinal study

Abstract

Little is known about the relationship between marital support, psychological distress and disability among older couples. Overall, it appears that functional status (the presence or absence of disability) has a major effect on psychological distress. The aim of this study is to explore longitudinally the relationship between functional status, marital support and psychological distress. This study was carried out over a period of 18 months using a representative sample of 394 community-dwelling couples, aged 65 and over. The following instruments were used: the Perceived Supportive Spouse Behaviors Questionnaire, the Index of Psychological Distress and a structured interview designed to measure disability. A dyadic longitudinal design was used to test the mediating effect of marital support on the relationship between disability and psychological distress in older couples. Dyadic data analyses with structural equation modeling were performed. The results indicate that neither positive nor negative marital support has any mediating effect on the relationship between functional status and psychological distress. However, it also indicates that negative marital support of men and women is related to their level of psychological distress. Moreover, both men and women react to even a slight decrease in their functional autonomy with an increase in psychological distress.

Keywords:

• older couples
• disability
• marital support
• psychological distress
• survey

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by grants to Dr Gilles Trudel as the principal researcher from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (MOP – 81281), Mental Health Axis of Quebec Network for Research on Aging and by Faculty of Human Sciences of Université du Québec à Montréal.

Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr Gilles Trudel, PhD, Department of psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Case Postale 8888, Succursale Centre Ville, Montréal, Qc, H3C 3P8 or at [email protected]. The authors wish to thank Marie-Pascale Leblond for her helpful collaboration in the writing of this paper.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gilles Trudel

Gilles Trudel, PhD, is psychologist and full professor at the Department of psychology of the Université du Québec à Montréal and researcher at Centre de Recherche Fernand Séguin, Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal.

Luc Dargis-Damphousse

Luc Dargis-Damphousse is a graduate student at the Department of psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal.

Laurence Villeneuve

Laurence Villeneuve is a graduate student at the Department of psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal.

Richard Boyer

Richard Boyer, PhD, is researcher at Centre de Recherche Fernand Séguin, Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal and professor at the Department of psychiatry, Université de Montréal.

Michel Préville

Michel Préville, PhD, is professor at the Department of Community Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke.