MARRIAGE AND HEALTH OVER THE LIFE COURSE

参与社会关系与更好的心理健康、身体健康和降低死亡风险有关。在这方面，婚姻关系是最重要的关系。人际关系的质量对健康也很重要——支持性的人际关系对健康有益，而紧张的人际关系对健康不利。这些都是研究文献中公认的发现，但我们对婚姻关系在一生中如何变化以及婚姻质量对健康的影响在一生中如何变化知之甚少。随着婚姻关系在个人生活中变得更加重要，身体健康问题变得更加普遍，婚姻质量/动力对个人在以后的生命历程中可能变得更加重要。建议项目的具体目标包括：(1)确定婚姻质量的多个方面（包括积极的和消极的）在生命过程中是如何变化的；(2)确定婚姻质量的这些方面如何影响心理健康、身体健康和健康行为，以及这些影响在生命过程中是如何变化的；(3)考虑中介因素（如健康行为）在影响婚姻质量和身体健康之间关系中的作用。(4)对婚姻质量变化背后的过程和婚姻质量对幸福感的影响进行定性分析，(5)考虑目标1-4中概述的动态和后果中的性别差异。我们从生命历程的角度进行研究，并将使用来自全国三波面板调查（1986年进行，N=3,617, 1989年，N=2,867, 1994年N=2,398）的纵向数据来解决目标1-3和5。我们还计划对6个年龄组的10名已婚人士（N=60）进行深度访谈，以完成目标4。这个定性部分将关注个人对婚姻动态随时间变化的看法，以及这些动态影响主观幸福感的过程。

Involvement in social relationships is associated with better mental health, better physical health, and reduced risk for mortality. The marital relationship is the most important relationship in this regard. The quality of relationships is also important for health-with supportive relationships having salutary effects on health and strained relationships adversely affecting health. These are well-established findings in the research literature, yet we know very little about how the marital relationship changes over the life course or how the impact of marital quality on health varies over the life course. Marital quality/dynamics may become more important to individuals later in the life course as the marital relationship becomes more central to their lives and as physical health problems become more prevalent. Specific aims for the proposed project include: (1) Determine how multiple facets of marital quality (both positive and negative) change over the life course, (2) determine how these facets of marital quality affect mental health, physical health, and health behavior and how these effects may change over the life course, (3) consider the role of mediating (e.g., health behavior) factors in affecting the relationship between marital quality and physical health, (4) conduct a qualitative analysis of processes underlying marital quality change and the impact of marital quality on well-being, and (5) consider gender differences in the dynamics and consequences outlined in Aims 1-4. We work from a life course perspective and will use longitudinal data from a national 3-wave panel survey (conducted in 1986, N=3,617, 1989, N=2,867, 1994 N=2,398) to address Aims 1-3 and 5. We also plan to conduct in-depth interviews with 10 married individuals in six age cohorts (N=60) to complete Aim 4. This qualitative component will focus on individuals' perceptions of change in marital dynamics over time as well as the processes through which these dynamics affect subjective well being.