A Tale of Two Societies: Social Engagement, Marital Satisfaction, and Depressive Symptoms Among Couples in Rural and Urban China.

IF 4.8 2区 医学 Q1 GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY
Dexia Kong, Xiaomin Li, Ashley B LeBaron-Black, Helene H Fung
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives: Previous research on social activity engagement in later life predominantly employed an individual-focused approach, restricting our understanding of how engagement in social activities as a couple can influence both relational and individual outcomes. This study examines the relationship between couples' combination of social engagement and husbands' and wives' marital satisfaction, and subsequently, their depressive symptoms.

Methods: Three waves of data on a sample of 3,889 couples from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study were used. We tested 3 operationalizations of couples' combination of social engagement-profile-based similarity (i.e., how similar a husband and wife are in their engagement in specific activities), difference score-based similarity (i.e., the absolute difference between a husband and a wife), and a couple's overall engagement level (i.e., the average of a couple's engagement scores)-to ascertain their associations with marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms. We also investigated how these associations differed between rural and urban couples.

Results: Our results reveal that-in urban but not rural areas-a couple's higher overall engagement level positively influences both partners' relational and individual well-being, and these associations vary by gender.

Discussion: Couples' overall level of activity engagement during midlife and older adulthood positively influences both partners' well-being. Promoting social engagement within couples presents a promising intervention strategy to disrupt the well-documented reciprocal link between social engagement and depressive symptoms.

两个社会的故事:中国农村和城市夫妻的社会参与、婚姻满意度和抑郁症状。
目的:以往关于晚年社会活动参与的研究主要采用了以个人为中心的方法,限制了我们对夫妻参与社会活动如何影响关系和个人结果的理解。本研究探讨夫妻的社会参与程度与夫妻的婚姻满意度之间的关系,进而影响他们的抑郁症状。方法:采用中国健康与退休纵向研究中3889对夫妇的三波数据。我们测试了夫妻社会参与组合的三种操作化——基于概况的相似性(即,丈夫和妻子在特定活动中的参与程度有多相似)、基于差异得分的相似性(即,丈夫和妻子之间的绝对差异)和夫妇的整体参与水平(即,夫妇订婚得分的平均值)——以确定它们与婚姻满意度和抑郁症状的关联。我们还调查了这些关联在农村和城市夫妇之间的差异。结果:我们的研究结果表明,在城市地区,而不是农村地区,夫妻的整体投入水平越高,对伴侣的关系和个人幸福感都有积极影响,而且这些联系因性别而异。讨论:夫妻在中年和老年时期的整体活动参与水平对双方的幸福都有积极影响。促进夫妻之间的社会参与是一种有希望的干预策略,可以破坏社会参与与抑郁症状之间的相互联系。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
11.60
自引率
8.10%
发文量
178
审稿时长
6-12 weeks
期刊介绍: The Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences publishes articles on development in adulthood and old age that advance the psychological science of aging processes and outcomes. Articles have clear implications for theoretical or methodological innovation in the psychology of aging or contribute significantly to the empirical understanding of psychological processes and aging. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, attitudes, clinical applications, cognition, education, emotion, health, human factors, interpersonal relations, neuropsychology, perception, personality, physiological psychology, social psychology, and sensation.
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