Patterns of Singlehood, Cohabitation, and Marriage in Early Adulthood in Relation to Well-being in Established Adulthood.

In a cohort followed from late adolescence until established adulthood, this study examined how singlehood, cohabitation, and marriage are related to well-being at different ages across early adulthood and into established adulthood.Participants (N = 585) from three U.S. sites reported their marital and residential status at ages 18, 23, 28, and 34, when they also reported on physical, psychological, and social indicators of well-being. Findings suggest that being married compared to single earlier in adulthood is related to several indicators of better age 34 well-being. Although single and married participants did not differ on all indicators of well-being, married participants across several ages had less problematic substance use, better health, more economic security, and fewer internalizing and externalizing problems at age 34. Cohabiting participants' well-being was more similar to the well-being of the single than married participants on most indicators (and on all indicators by age 34). Findings did not differ by gender. The findings suggest that despite normative increases in singlehood and cohabitation, the present cohort shows that marriage continued to be associated with well-being at age 34.

A Lifecourse Perspective on Singlehood.

A growing number of adults are spending more of their lifetime as single, either because they are taking longer to form unions, are re-entering singlehood after the dissolution of unions, or are avoiding union formation all together. Nevertheless, existing relationship research still generally positions singlehood as something to avoid, limiting our understanding of the rapidly evolving position of singlehood within the lifecourse as well as its implications for health and well-being. Thus, this special issue includes four articles that collectively offer theoretical and empirical inquiries of developmental and historical trends in singlehood and relationship histories, examine the antecedents and consequences of these trends, and explore how they vary based on salient sociodemographic characteristics. Overall, this special issue demonstrates that singlehood is more than just a temporary status within one's "progression" to the formation of committed relationships. It is our hope that the papers in this issue will encourage scholars to revise and expand their perspective on relationships to include singlehood alongside committed relationships as a potentially viable and healthy status as well as valid point of destination.

Digital Health and Caregiving Resources Used by Family Caregivers of Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Caregiving is often associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes, and as the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, caregivers experienced more burden and provided more care with substantially less support. Digital resources may have been one way caregivers managed demands for care and needs for information. This mixed-methods study included surveys and semi-structured interviews with caregivers (n = 11) to describe experiences and use of digital health resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. Caregivers most often provided significant physical care and experienced reduced or no social support during the pandemic. Caregivers reported the need for improving the quality of telehealth services and digital health resources. COVID-19 will not likely be the last pandemic faced by contemporary society. Measures should be taken to reduce the anticipated negative impacts on caregivers and those receiving care during future pandemics.

Developmental stasis, sensitivity, and disturbance: Linking concepts to analytic methods using impulsivity and alcohol use.

The goals of this article are to (a) describe and contrast conceptual characteristics of periods of developmental sensitivity, disturbance, and stasis, and (b) translate these concepts to testable analytic models with an example dataset. Although the concept of developmental sensitivity is widely known, the concepts of developmental stasis and disturbance have received less attention. We first define the concepts and their principles and then, using repeated measures data on impulsivity and alcohol use from adolescence to young adulthood, propose the dual latent change score (LCS) growth model as one analytic approach for evaluating evidence for key characteristics of these developmental concepts via examination of intraindividual time-varying associations.

Exploring the interplay of psychological and biological components of stress response and telomere length in the transition from middle age to late adulthood: A systematic review.

Ageing and chronic stress have been linked to reduced telomere length (TL) in mixed-age groups. Whether stress response components are linked to TL during the midlife-to-late adulthood transition remains unclear. Our study aimed to synthesise evidence on the relationship between psychological and biological components of stress response on TL in middle-aged and older adults. We conducted a systematic review of studies obtained from six databases (PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Scopus) and evaluated by two independent reviewers. Original research measuring psychological and biological components of stress response and TL in human individuals were included. From an initial pool of 614 studies, 15 were included (n = 9446 participants). Synthesis of evidence showed that higher psychological components of the stress response (i.e., global perceived stress or within a specific life domain and cognitive appraisal to social-evaluative stressors) were linked to shorter TL, specifically in women or under major life stressors. For the biological stress response, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate and IGF-1/cortisol imbalance, IL-6, MCP-1, blood pressure, and heart rate presented a significant association with TL, but this relationship depended on major life stressors and the stress context (manipulated vs. non-manipulated conditions). This comprehensive review showed that psychological and biological components of the stress response are linked to shorter TL, but mainly in women or those under a major life stressor and stress-induced conditions. The interaction between stressor attributes and psychological and biological reactions in the transition from middle to late adulthood still needs to be fully understood, and examining it is a critical step to expanding our understanding of stress's impact on ageing trajectories.

From Organizing Medicine to Cooking With More Leafy Greens: A Dyadic, Qualitative Analysis of How Older African American Couples Take Care of Each Other's Health.

Guided by the Dyadic Theory of Illness Management, we explored spousal health management behaviors and their congruence within seventeen older African American married couples participating in a dyadic exercise intervention. Both prior to and after the intervention, spouses reported how they took care of their partner's health as well as what their partner did for them. Data were analyzed using theoretical thematic analysis, and five health management behaviors domains were identified (diet, exercise, self-care, medical compliance, relationship maintenance). Both partners were most likely to encourage healthier diets and exercise. Wives tended to report more behaviors compared to husbands. Couples had little congruence in their appraisals of each other's health management behaviors, and patterns were stable over time. Findings suggest incongruence in couples' health management behaviors represented complementary, collaborative efforts to support each other and that husbands may underestimate how much care they both provide to and receive from their wives.

Relational concerns and change in relationship satisfaction in a relationship education program.

Lower income couples tend to report more difficulty sustaining high-quality intimate relationships. As a result, policy initiatives have been enacted to fund relationship education (RE) programs that aim to increase lower income couples' relationship satisfaction. Generally, these programs demonstrate small, albeit statistically significant improvements in mean levels of relationship functioning. It is critical, however, to understand if RE programming influences the developmental course of intimate relationships, and if this influence depends on couples' initial levels of concerns about their relationships. Using dyadic group-based modeling and three waves of data from 6034 couples in the Supporting Healthy Marriages project, a randomized control trial of RE, we categorized couples into four relationship concern groups (No Relational Concerns, Both Relationally Concerned, Men's Relational Concerns, and Women's Relational Concerns) and explored how these groups moderated the long-term efficacy of RE programming. Results indicated that RE was associated with different developmental trajectories of satisfaction, but RE effects differed for men and women. Specifically, random assignment into RE was associated with men maintaining high levels of relationship satisfaction, whereas women's satisfaction decreased over time. These effects were not moderated by initial relationship concerns. The association between RE and relationship satisfaction trajectories was small in magnitude, suggesting that more comprehensive services are needed to strengthen lower income couples' intimate relationships.

African American Couples' Experiences during an Exercise Intervention Interrupted by the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Case Study.

Exercise intervention researchers often struggle to transition participants from supervised/laboratory-based exercise to independent exercise. Research to inform this critical juncture remains underdeveloped. This qualitative case study investigated the transition from laboratory-based to home-based training in a subset of middle-aged and older African American couples whose exercise intervention experience was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. All four couples (N = 8) whose study participation was interrupted participated in dyadic interviews by videoconference. Two investigators independently reviewed verbatim transcripts, and then used an iterative open coding approach to identify themes from the qualitative data. Three main themes were identified: (1) resistance training program modifications, (2) partner interactions, and (3) external pandemic-related factors. Each theme included both positive and negative feedback related to participants' experiences. Overall, virtual, home-based training appeared acceptable and feasible in this group. Further research is needed to investigate the utility of virtual training to effectively transition participants from laboratory-based to independent exercise.

The destabilization and destandardization of social roles across the adult life course: Considering aggregate social role instability and its variability from a historical-developmental perspective.

Existing research focused on social role destabilization (historical increases in role instability) and destandardization (historical increases in variability of role instability) has primarily focused on discrete social roles during discrete periods of development. Building on this work, we applied a macro approach to elucidate the extent to which historical trends toward destabilization and destandardization are occurring at the aggregate among a key set of social roles (union formation, education, residential independence, and employment) and across the whole of adulthood. Applying a historical-developmental approach, we also document how historical trends toward destabilization and destandardization vary by age. We used 3 historical, longitudinal data sets: the Monitoring the Future study (N = 69,464; 55.4% women; 75.5% white), the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (N = 45,001; 51.4% women; 54.3% white), and The Health and Retirement Study (N = 30,913; 53.6% women; 75.6% white) that collectively cover the entire adult life course and over a century of U.S. birth cohorts. We found that aggregate destabilization and destandardization have occurred across the entirety of adulthood, although trends appear more pronounced at either end of the adult life course and the specific roles driving both trends vary across the adult life course. Findings were robust for educational attainment, and destabilization and destandardization were more pronounced among women. Findings highlight the importance of considering social role changes at the aggregate and singularly, and the need to evaluate social role changes in any 1 period of adulthood in conjunction with those occurring in other periods of adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Strengthening lower-income families: Lessons learned from policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Families are navigating an unstable economy due to COVID-19. Financial stressors have the potential to strain intimate relationships and exacerbate prior inequities across lower-income families. Notably, the economic impact of COVID-19 disproportionately influenced Black and Latinx families. As a response to families' economic adversity during the pandemic, the federal government initiated the CARES Act. This type of federal response to lower-income families, however, is not new. The purpose of this paper is to contextualize and historicize previous and current efforts to mitigate the consequences of financial hardship on families by comparing the assumptions and efficacy of the Healthy Marriages Initiative and the CARES act. We conclude with four recommendations to promote well-being in lower-income families: (1) acknowledging and reducing inequities that disproportionally impact families racialized as Black or Latinx; (2) intervening to mitigate stressors surrounding families; (3) using innovative methods to deliver relationship education; and (4) considering prevention versus intervention strategies.

Las familias están transitando una economía inestable debido a la COVID-19. Los factores desencadenantes de estrés pueden dañar las relaciones amorosas y exacerbar las desigualdades previas entre las familias de bajos recursos. Notablemente, el efecto económico de la COVID-19 influyó de manera desproporcionada en las familias negras y latinas. Como respuesta a la adversidad económica de las familias durante la pandemia, el gobierno federal aprobó la ley CARES o ley de estímulo federal. Sin embargo, este tipo de respuesta federal a las familias de bajos recursos no es nuevo. El propósito de este artículo es contextualizar e historizar los esfuerzos anteriores y actuales para mitigar las consecuencias de las dificultades económicas en las familias comparando los supuestos y la eficacia de la Iniciativa para Matrimonios Saludables (Healthy Marriages Initiative) y la ley CARES. Finalizamos con cuatro recomendaciones para promover el bienestar en las familias de bajos recursos: (1) reconocer y reducir las desigualdades que afectan desproporcionadamente a las familias racializadas como negras o latinas; (2) intervenir para mitigar los factores desencadenantes de estrés en torno a las familias; (3) utilizar métodos innovadores para impartir capacitaciones sobre las relaciones; y (4) tener en cuenta estrategias de prevención frente a estrategias de intervención.

"It was just for us": qualitative evaluation of an exercise intervention for African-American couples.

BACKGROUND: Promoting long-term exercise adherence should be a key focus for health and fitness professionals working to reduce obesity and cardiometabolic health disparities, and all-cause mortality in inactive African-American (AA) adults. Data have suggested that romantic partners can improve long-term exercise adherence and that this dyadic approach should be examined in exercise interventions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative evaluation of a pilot exercise intervention conducted in older AA couples. METHODS: Two semi-structured focus groups were utilized to compare participants' perceptions of and experiences during the pilot intervention across two randomly assigned treatment conditions (exercising together with partner [ET; n = 8] versus exercising separately [ES: n = 6]). Participants (mean age: 64.7 ± 6.8 years) of a previous 12-week pilot exercise intervention (walking ≥3 days/week, 30 min/day plus supervised resistance training 2 days/week) were interviewed. Verbatim transcripts were coded using an open coding approach. RESULTS: Three key themes (intervention value/benefits, intervention difficulties, and suggested improvements) emerged. Although all couples identified health and relationship benefits of the intervention, some differences surfaced within themes across the two intervention groups. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these qualitative data suggest that couples had a positive experience while participating in the pilot study. In addition, key learning points to improve the intervention were identified including a more gradual transition to independent exercise, more flexibility training, and the incorporation of tangential education. These data will help investigators continue to develop the intervention, which is ultimately designed to promote long-term exercise adherence to reduce cardiometabolic health disparities in the AA community.

You Aren't as Close to my Family as You Think: Discordant Perceptions about In-laws and Risk of Divorce.

In-law relationships can act as sources of both support and stress for couples. Independent of the nature of the actual relationships with in-laws, it may be that couple similarity in perceptions of these ties determines if they undermine or facilitate marital stability. The current study sought to examine how spousal connections to in-laws and concordance about these relationships early in marriage predicted marital stability in a sample of 355 Black and White married couples followed over 16 years. Husbands and wives reported on time spent with families, whose family they turn to for support, and closeness with families during their first year of marriage. Analyses revealed that discordance on these issues early in marriage was common. We found that even after controlling for husband and wife reports of connections with in-laws, discordance on closeness with the wife's family predicted divorce. Thus, when conceptualizing the costs and benefits of connections with in-laws, it is important to consider not only the nature of spouses' ties to each other's families, but the extent to which their views of these ties are concordant.

Better Together? A Pilot Study of Romantic Partner Influence on Exercise Adherence and Cardiometabolic Risk in African-American Couples.

BACKGROUND: African-Americans (AAs) have higher rates of inactivity, obesity, and cardiometabolic risk compared to other races/ethnicities. Romantic partners can positively influence health habits, yet whether or not couples have to exercise together in order to adopt regular exercise remains unclear. This study examined whether exercising together influences exercise adherence and cardiometabolic risk in AA couples. METHODS: Nine AA romantic couples (age 62.8 ± 7.7 years; body mass index 31.0 ± 4.4 kg/m2; 6105 ± 1689 average steps/day) completed a 12-week walking (≥ 30 min, 3 days/week) plus resistance training (RT; 2 days/week) pilot intervention. Couples were randomized to either exercise together (ET) or separately (ES). Waist and hip circumferences, iDXA-measured body composition, blood pressure, and blood biomarkers (glucose, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, C-reactive protein, and fibrinogen) were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Independent-sample t tests and generalized linear mixed models, controlling for gender, were used to analyze data. Significance was accepted at P < 0.05. RESULTS: There were no significant group × time interactions for any outcome. However, ET trended toward more walking (86.5 ± 57.7 min/week) than ES (66.1 ± 31.7 min/week). There were also significant overall time effects for waist circumference (P < 0.001), body fat (P = 0.020), fat mass (P = 0.007), gynoid fat (P = 0.041), HbA1c (P = 0.020), and HDL (P = 0.047), where all variables decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Trends showed exercising together may promote walking prescription adherence, although more research is needed in a larger sample. This intervention may also improve cardiometabolic risk factors in this population. These pilot data will inform the current investigators' future exercise intervention research in AA adult dyads.

Engaging a Community Advisory Board to Inform an Exercise Intervention in Older African-American Couples.

This paper describes our approach to forming and engaging a community advisory board (CAB) to assist in the development of a proposed exercise intervention pilot study. The intervention aimed to examine the effects of exercise on exercise adherence, the provision of partner support and receptivity to partner health influence, and cardiometabolic risk in older African-American romantic couples. CAB invitations were extended to local community members and leaders who had a stake in the health of the target population. Seven individuals accepted the invitation and attended at least one of two CAB meetings during which we proposed ideas for the exercise intervention pilot study, then solicited CAB input in four key areas related to the study including: (1) priority health concerns of the target population, (2) the intervention protocol and methodologies, (3) cultural relevance, and (4) sustainability. Two investigators jointly led both CAB meetings, which lasted approximately 3 h each. Recorded community feedback was summarized and coded using a thematic analysis approach. Themes were identified and agreed upon within the four areas identified above. Overall, the proposed study was well-received by the CAB and considered beneficial for and relevant to the target population. Although not all suggestions put forth by the CAB were feasible given the inherent limitations of pilot work, we made multiple study modifications as a result of CAB recommendations. Further, all CAB feedback helped inform plans to launch the intervention on a larger scale and were vital in ensuring that the pilot study was valued in the local community. Although community-based participatory research that originates within a community may be preferable, we demonstrate the utility of a community-partnered approach to intervention design in a vulnerable population. This model could assist researchers who wish to engage the local community to help develop a preliminary idea for a health-related intervention.

Marital Quality, Loneliness, and Depressive Symptoms Later in Life: The Moderating Role of Own and Spousal Functional Limitations.

Loneliness is a mechanism through which marital quality relates to older adults' mental health. Links between marital quality, loneliness, and depressive symptoms, however, are often examined independent of older adults' functional health. The current study therefore examines whether associations between marital quality, loneliness, and depressive symptoms are contextually dependent on individuals' own (or their spouse's) functional limitations, as well as on gender. Data came from couples (N = 1084) who participated in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative dataset of older adults (age 50+). We utilized data from the 2014 leave-behind psychosocial questionnaire to measure spousal support/strain and loneliness, and interview data from 2014 to measure baseline depressive symptoms and demographic covariates (e.g., race and education). Depressive symptoms in 2016 served as the focal outcome variable. Findings from a series of path models estimated in MPLUS indicated that loneliness is a mechanism through which spousal support predicts older adults' depressive symptoms. Such linkages, however, were dependent on individuals' own functional limitations and gender. For functionally limited males in particular, spousal support was shown to reduce depressive symptoms insofar as it was associated with lower levels of loneliness; otherwise, it was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Such findings reinforce the importance of taking a contextualized approach when examining associations between support and emotional well-being later in life.

Consensus and relationship distress before and after a brief couples' intervention.

Understanding how partners' perceptions of their relationships predict couple distress and treatment outcomes can inform relationship interventions, because consensus on pretreatment relationship concerns has previously been related to better treatment outcomes. However, whether consensus specifically about relationship concerns is beneficial, or whether consensus more generally (e.g., about couples' strengths) is also related to distress and treatment outcomes, is unknown. Therefore, to replicate and extend previous findings, the present study examined how 740 couples' consensus regarding their relationship strengths and concerns was associated with their relationship distress and satisfaction from pre- to postintervention after completing the Relationship Checkup (an adaptation of the Marriage Checkup). Couples who presented with greater initial consensus on relationship concerns were less likely to be clinically distressed pre- and postintervention. Broadly, there were similar significant gains in relationship satisfaction from pre- to postintervention regardless of couples' initial level of consensus on concerns. However, when distress was modeled categorically, couples with lower initial consensus on concerns showed greater improvement in distress levels than did those with higher consensus. There were no associations between partners' consensus on strengths and their distress or satisfaction pre- or postintervention. Results indicate that a brief integrative relationship intervention can decrease relationship distress, even for couples that present with very different opinions about their relationship concerns. Implications of brief and acceptance-based models in couple education and therapy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

What are the Marital Problems of Happy Couples? A Multimethod, Two-Sample Investigation.

How couples handle marital conflict may depend on what issues they are facing, as some issues may be more difficult to resolve than others. What is unclear, however, is what issues happy couples face and how these issues may be different for couples depending on their developmental stage. To explore this possibility, the current study used both self-reports and observations drawn from two separate samples of happily married couples-one early in middle adulthood (N = 57 couples; average marital duration = 9 years) and one in older adulthood (N = 64 couples; average marital duration = 42 years). Results indicated that all issues were relatively minor, but early middle-aged couples reported more significant problems than did older couples. As to determining the most salient topic for happy couples, it depended on the spouses' gender, developmental stage, and how salience was assessed (i.e., highest rated issue vs. most discussed issue). Only moderate links were found between what happy couples said was their most serious concern and what they actually tried to resolve during observations of marital problem-solving, but there were differences in how spouses behaved based on the proportion of their time discussing certain topics. Findings suggest that more attention should be devoted to understanding what marital issues happy couples discuss and why, as doing so may reveal how couples maintain their marital happiness.

Las maneras en las que las parejas manejan el conflicto conyugal puede depender de qué problemas enfrentan, ya que algunos problemas pueden ser más difíciles de resolver que otros. Sin embargo, lo que no está claro es qué problemas enfrentan las parejas felices y cómo estos pueden ser diferentes para las parejas según su etapa de desarrollo. Para analizar esta posibilidad, el presente estudio utilizó autoinformes y observaciones tomados de dos muestras distintas de parejas felizmente casadas: una a principios de la mediana edad (N = 57 parejas; duración conyugal promedio = 9 años) y una en la tercera edad (N = 64 parejas; duración conyugal promedio = 42 años). Los resultados indicaron que todos los problemas fueron relativamente menores, pero las parejas de principios de la mediana edad informaron problemas más importantes que las parejas mayores. En cuanto a la determinación del problema más prominente para las parejas felices, dependió del género de los cónyuges, la etapa de desarrollo y cómo se evaluó la prominencia (p. ej.: el problema más puntuado frente al problema más debatido). Solo se hallaron vínculos moderados entre lo que las parejas felices declararon como su mayor preocupación y lo que en realidad intentaron resolver durante las observaciones de la resolución de problemas conyugales, pero hubo diferencias en las maneras en las que los cónyuges se comportaron según la proporción de su tiempo debatiendo ciertos temas. Los resultados sugieren que debería dedicarse más atención a comprender qué problemas conyugales debaten las parejas felices y por qué, ya que hacerlo puede revelar cómo las parejas mantienen su felicidad conyugal.

Intergenerational continuity and stability in early family formation.

This study examines intergenerational continuity (mean level similarity) and stability (maintenance of rank ordering of individuals) in age and marital status at the time of becoming a young parent using prospective data from 3 generations of 585 families. G2 participants were recruited at the age of 5 years and followed until the age of 28, by which time 227 had become parents themselves. The findings suggest that despite dramatic intergenerational discontinuities with young adults, on average, now being more likely to be unmarried and older at the time of becoming parents than in previous generations, intergenerational stability in age and marital status at the time of becoming a young parent is still substantial. This intergenerational stability was, for the most part, not moderated by demographic, familial, or behavioral factors, suggesting that a developmental, multigenerational perspective is necessary to understand what has previously been considered a largely demographic issue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).