Correlates of Positive and Negative Marital Quality Among Older Hispanic Adults in the United States.

Abstract

Marital quality is linked to the well-being of older adults. Social networks tend to shrink in later life, and older adults often rely on their spouses for social support. A better understanding of subpopulations with distinctive sociocultural characteristics, such as older Hispanic adults, is warranted. Hispanic cultural values represented as familismo-the value placed on family relationships-make marital relationships even more critical. The present study investigated the correlates of positive and negative marital quality constructs among older Hispanic adults aged 51 years and older. Regression analysis of the 2016/2018 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data (n = 1012) showed that women (b = -0.25, p < .05) reported lower positive marital quality than men. Also, depressive symptoms (b = -0.14, p < .05) were associated with greater negative marital quality. The present study evaluated marital quality correlates among unique and understudied older Hispanic populations and explored possible theoretical explanations.