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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Examining The Interplay Between Spousal And Non-Spousal Social Support And Strain On Trajectories Of Functional Limitations Among Married Older Adults, Scott A. Adams Oct 2016

Examining The Interplay Between Spousal And Non-Spousal Social Support And Strain On Trajectories Of Functional Limitations Among Married Older Adults, Scott A. Adams

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Marriage is a key social status related to the distribution of later life disablement. One factor within the marital relationship thought to be consequential for disablement is social support from the spouse. Nonetheless, marriage is not inherently supportive and may also be a source of chronic strain. According to the social support/stress model spousal social support is expected to result in better functional health outcomes while spousal strain is hypothesized to produce poorer functional health in later life. Beyond spousal support and strain, marriage is also embedded in a broader web of emotionally close non-spousal ties that are also likely …


Physical Disability And Increased Loneliness Among Married Older Adults: The Role Of Changing Social Relations, David F. Warner, Scott A. Adams Jan 2016

Physical Disability And Increased Loneliness Among Married Older Adults: The Role Of Changing Social Relations, David F. Warner, Scott A. Adams

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Examining the social context of disablement, we investigated how changes in social relations affect loneliness among married older men and women. With longitudinal data on 914 married persons from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), we found that changes in the quality of marital and nonmarital relations moderate the effect of disability on loneliness in unexpected ways. Increases in negative marital quality buffer the effect of physical disability, while increases in nonmarital support exacerbate it. Although not predicted by existing theory, these findings are consistent with some prior work suggesting that health-related stressors, like physical disability, condition …