Objective: This study examined effects of a partner’s depressive symptoms on those of a focal respondent. Method: Data were from the 2008-through-2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. Linear growth modeling was used to distinguish within- from between-person variation, and genetic instrumental variables to take endogeneity into account. Results: A partner’s 2008 depressive symptoms had no associations with within-person change in those of a respondent between 2010 and 2014. Corresponding linkages with their between-person variation in 2010 were positive and significant for both genders. Among women, these last estimates remained intact in genetic instrumental variable models restricted to white couples. Discussion: Results indicate that contrary to previous literature, late life relationships are not marked by “crossover” of depressive symptoms. Women’s affect may, however, be influenced by such transmission in the relationship’s history. Beyond depression, findings suggest current theories of dyadic health effects may partly rest on flawed evidence.
AddisM. E. (2008). Gender and depression in men. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 15, 153-168.
2.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
3.
BakusicJ.SchaufeliW.ClaesS.GodderisL. (2017). Stress, burnout and depression: A systematic review on DNA methylation mechanisms. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 92, 34-44.
4.
BeckettM. (2000). Converging health inequalities in later life—An artifact of mortality selection?Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 41, 106-119.
5.
BenazonN. R. (2000). Predicting negative spousal attitudes toward depressed persons: A test of Coyne’s interpersonal model. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 550-554.
6.
BenazonN. R.CoyneJ. C. (2000). Living with a depressed spouse. Journal of Family Psychology, 14, 70-79.
7.
BerryD.WilloughbyM. T. (2017). On the practical interpretability of cross-lagged panel models: Rethinking a developmental workhorse. Child Development, 88, 1186-1206.
8.
BollenK. A.CurranP. J. (2006). Latent curve models: A structural equation perspective. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
9.
BoyleE. A.LiY. I.PritchardJ. K. (2017). An expanded view of complex traits: From polygenic to omnigenic. Cell, 169, 1177-1186.
10.
BronfenbrennerU. (1977). Toward an experimental ecology of human development. American Psychologist, 32, 513-531.
11.
ButterworthP.RodgersB. (2006). Concordance in the mental health of spouses: Analysis of a large national household panel survey. Psychological Medicine, 36, 685-697.
12.
ClarkeP.MarshallV.HouseJ.LantzP. (2011). The social structuring of mental health over the adult life course: Advancing theory in the sociology of aging. Social Forces, 89, 1287-1314.
13.
CourtenayW. H. (2000). Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men’s well-being: A theory of gender and health. Social Science & Medicine, 50, 1385-1401.
14.
DidelezV.MengS.SheehanN. A. (2010). Assumptions of IV methods for observational epidemiology. Statistical Science, 25, 22-40.
15.
ElwertF.WinshipC. (2014). Endogenous selection bias: The problem of conditioning on a collider variable. Annual Review of Sociology, 40, 31-53.
16.
GerstorfD.HoppmannC. A.KadlecK. M.McArdleJ. J. (2009). Memory and depressive symptoms are dynamically linked among married couples: Longitudinal evidence from the AHEAD study. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1595-1610.
17.
HalldorsdottirT.BinderE. B. (2017). Gene × Environment interactions: From molecular mechanisms to behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 68, 215-241.
18.
HolahanC. J.MoosR. H.MoerkbakM. L.CronkiteR. C.HolahanC. K.KenneyB. A. (2007). Spousal similarity in coping and depressive symptoms over 10 years. Journal of Family Psychology, 21, 551-559.
19.
HouseJ. S.LepkowskiJ. M.KinneyA. M.MeroR. P.KesslerR. C.HerzogA. R. (1994). The social stratification of aging and health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 35, 213-234.
20.
JoinerT. E.Jr.KatzJ. (1999). Contagion of depressive symptoms and mood: Meta-analytic review and explanations from cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal viewpoints. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 6, 149-164.
21.
JusterR.-P.McEwenB. S.LupienS. J. (2010). Allostatic load biomarkers of chronic stress and impact on health and cognition. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 35, 2-16.
22.
KourosC. D.CummingsE. M. (2010). Longitudinal associations between husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 135-147.
23.
LawlorD. A.HarbordR. M.SterneJ. A. C.TimpsonN.SmithG. D. (2008). Mendelian randomization: Using genes as instruments for making causal inferences in epidemiology. Statistics in Medicine, 27, 1133-1163.
24.
LeeC.GleiD. A.GoldmanN.WeinsteinM. (2017). Children’s education and parents’ trajectories of depressive symptoms. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 58, 86-101.
25.
LevineM. E.CrimminsE. M.PrescottC. A.PhillipsD.ArpawongT. E.LeeJ. (2014). A polygenic risk score associated with measures of depressive symptoms among older adults. Biodemography and Social Biology, 60, 199-211.
26.
LindauS. T.LaumannE. O.LevinsonW.WaiteL. J. (2003). Synthesis of scientific disciplines in pursuit of health: The Interactive Biopsychosocial Model. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 46, S74-S86.
27.
MilkieM. A. (2010). The stress process model: Some family-level considerations. In AvisonW. R.AneshenselC. S.SchiemanS.WheatonB. (Eds.), Advances in the conceptualization of the stress process: Essays in honor of Leonard I. Pearlin (pp. 93-108). New York, NY: Springer.
28.
MillerD. R.LogueM. W.WolfE. J.ManiatesH.RobinsonM. E.HayesJ. P.. . . MillerM. W. (2017). Posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity is associated with reduced default mode network connectivity in individuals with elevated genetic risk for psychopathology. Depression and Anxiety, 34, 632-640.
29.
MunafòM. R.TillingK.TaylorA. E.EvansD. M.SmithG. D. (2018). Collider scope: When selection bias can substantially influence observed associations. International Journal of Epidemiology, 47, 226-235.
30.
MuthénL. K.MuthénB. O. (1998-2017). Mplus user’s guide (8th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Author.
31.
NeffL. A.KarneyB. R. (2007). Stress crossover in newlywed marriage: A longitudinal and dyadic perspective. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 594-607.
32.
O’MalleyA. J.ElwertF.RosenquistJ. N.ZaslavskyA. M.ChristakisN. A. (2014). Estimating peer effects in longitudinal dyadic data using instrumental variables. Biometrics, 70, 506-515.
33.
PalmerT. M.LawlorD. A.HarbordR. M.SheehanN. A.TobiasJ. H.TimpsonN. J.. . . SterneJ. A. (2012). Using multiple genetic variants as instrumental variables for modifiable risk factors. Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 21, 223-242.
34.
PearlJ. (2009). Causality: Models, reasoning, and inference. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
35.
PerkinsN. J.ColeS. R.HarelO.Tchetgen TchetgenE. J.SunB.MitchellE. M.SchistermanE. F. (2018). Principled approaches to missing data in epidemiologic studies. American Journal of Epidemiology, 187, 568-575.
36.
RadloffL. (1975). Sex differences in depression: The effects of occupation and marital status. Sex Roles, 1, 249-265.
37.
RaudenbushS. W.BrykA. S.CheongY. F.CongdonR. T.Jr. (2001). HLM 5: Hierarchical linear and nonlinear modeling. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
38.
RobinsonM. R.KleinmanA.GraffM.VinkhuyzenA. A. E.CouperD.MillerM. B.. . . VisscherP. M. (2017). Genetic evidence of assortative mating in humans. Nature Human Behaviour, 1, Article 0016.
39.
RosenfieldS.LennonM. C.WhiteH. R. (2005). The self and mental health: Self-salience and the emergence of internalizing and externalizing problems. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46, 323-340.
40.
RosenfieldS.PhillipsJ.WhiteH. (2006). Gender, race, and the self in mental health and crime. Social Problems, 53, 161-185.
41.
RosenfieldS.VertefuilleJ.McalpineD. D. (2000). Gender stratification and mental health: An exploration of dimensions of the self. Social Psychology Quarterly, 63, 208-223.
42.
RosenquistJ. N.FowlerJ. H.ChristakisN. A. (2011). Social network determinants of depression. Molecular Psychiatry, 16, 273-281.
43.
RoteS.AngelJ. L.MarkidesK. (2015). Health of elderly Mexican American adults and family caregiver distress. Research on Aging, 37, 306-331.
44.
ShakyaH. B. (2015). Affect and well-being similarity among older Indian spouses. Aging & Mental Health, 19, 325-334.
45.
ShanahanM. J.HoferS. M. (2005). Social context in gene-environment interactions: Retrospect and prospect. Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 60, 65-76.
46.
SimonR. W. (2002). Revisiting the relationships among gender, marital status, and mental health. American Journal of Sociology, 107, 1065-1096.
47.
SimonR. W.MarcussenK. (1999). Marital transitions, marital beliefs, and mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 40, 111-125.
48.
SonnegaA.FaulJ. D.OfstedalM. B.LangaK. M.PhillipsJ. W. R.WeirD. R. (2014). Cohort profile: The Health and Retirement Study (HRS). International Journal of Epidemiology, 43, 576-585.
49.
SpenceN. J.AdkinsD. E.DupreM. E. (2011). Racial differences in depression trajectories among older women: Socioeconomic, family, and health influences. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 52, 444-459.
50.
StaigerD.StockJ. H. (1997). Instrumental variables regression with weak instruments. Econometrica, 65, 557-586.
51.
StimpsonJ. P.PeekM. K.MarkidesK. S. (2006). Depression and mental health among older Mexican American spouses. Aging & Mental Health, 10, 386-393.
52.
TeichmanY.Bar-ElZ.ShorH.ElizurA. (2003). Cognitive, interpersonal, and behavioral predictors of patients’ and spouses’ depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 74, 247-256.
53.
ThomeerM. B.UmbersonD.PudrovskaT. (2013). Marital processes around depression: A gendered and relational perspective. Society and Mental Health, 3, 151-169.
54.
TownsendA. L.MillerB.GuoS. (2001). Depressive symptomatology in middle-aged and older married couples: A dyadic analysis. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences, 56, S352-S364.
55.
TurveyC. L.WallaceR. B.HerzogR. (1999). A revised CES-D measure of depressive symptoms and a DSM-based measure of major depressive episodes in the elderly. International Psychogeriatrics, 11, 139-148.
56.
VansteelandtS.BowdenJ.BabanezhadM.GoetghebeurE. (2011). On instrumental variables estimation of causal odds ratios. Statistical Science, 26, 403-422.
57.
WaiteL. J.DasA. (2010). Families, social life, and well being at older ages. Demography, 47, S87-S109.
58.
WalkerR. B.LuszczM. A. (2009). The health and relationship dynamics of late-life couples: A systematic review of the literature. Ageing & Society, 29, 455-480.
59.
WangJ.-Y.HsiehM.-H.LinP.-C.LiuC.-S.ChenJ.-D. (2017). Parallel contagion phenomenon of concordant mental disorders among married couples: A nationwide cohort study. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 71, 640-647.
60.
WareE.SchmitzL.FaulJ. (2017). HRS polygenic scores: 2006-2010 genetic data. Ann Arbor: Survey Research Center, University of Michigan.
61.
WeissmanM. M.BlandR. C.CaninoG. J.FaravelliC.GreenwaldS.HwuH.-G.. . . YehE. K. (1996). Cross-national epidemiology of major depression and bipolar disorder. Journal of the American Medical Association, 276, 293-299.
62.
WeuveJ.Tchetgen TchetgenE. J.GlymourM. M.BeckT. L.AggarwalN. T.WilsonR. S.. . . Mendes de LeonC. F .(2012). Accounting for bias due to selective attrition: The example of smoking and cognitive decline. Epidemiology, 23, 119-128.
63.
WooldridgeJ. M. (2010). Econometric analysis of cross section and panel data. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
64.
XuX.LiangJ.BennettJ. M.QuiñonesA. R.YeW. (2010). Ethnic differences in the dynamics of depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older Americans. Journal of Aging and Health, 22, 631-652.
65.
YangY. (2007). Is old age depressing? Growth trajectories and cohort variations in late-life depression. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 48, 16-32.
