ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2017
To Love is to Suffer: Older Adults' Daily Emotional Contagion to Perceived Spousal Suffering.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Controlled Pilot Study of the Wish Outcome Obstacle Plan Strategy for Spouses of Persons With Early-Stage Dementia.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2022Trial
- Bridging the Social Gap Through 'Conscious Caring': A Constructivist Grounded Theory of the Art of Caring for Older Adults With Dual Sensory Impairment.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Article
- Relationship closeness in the context of chronic pain: Daily benefits and challenges for partners.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025Article
- Linked Lives: Dyadic Trajectories of Cognitive Function Among Middle-Aged and Older Couples.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Spousal associations between social participation and chronic diseases among Chinese middle-aged and older adults: an actor-partner interdependence model analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- The contribution of vulnerability to emotional contagion to the expression of psychological distress in older adults.PLOS mental health · 2024Article
- The Implications of Being "In it Together": Relationship Satisfaction and Joint Health Behaviors Predict Better Health and Stronger Concordance Between Partners.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2022Article
- The Impact of Marital Quality as Older Couples Adjust to Dementia Onset.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2022Article
- Couple Analysis in the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2021Article
- Daily stress spillover and crossover in couples coping with type 1 diabetes.Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43) · 2021Article
- Grieving a Grandparent: The Importance of Gender and Multigenerational Relationships.Journal of marriage and the family · 2021Article
- Perceived Patient Pain and Spousal Caregivers' Negative Affect: The Moderating Role of Spouse Confidence in Patients' Pain Management.Journal of aging and health · 2020Article
- For better and worse? The roles of closeness, marital behavior, and age in spouses' cardiometabolic similarity.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2020Article
- Marriage and Gut (Microbiome) Feelings: Tracing Novel Dyadic Pathways to Accelerated Aging.Psychosomatic medicine · 2019Article
- Recalling support provision decreases distress and anger in response to partner suffering.Aging & mental health · 2018Article
- Perceptions of Purpose in Life Within Spousal Care Dyads: Associations With Emotional and Physical Caregiving Difficulties.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2018Article
- Spouses' daily feelings of appreciation and self-reported well-being.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2017Article
- The role of compassion, suffering, and intrusive thoughts in dementia caregiver depression.Aging & mental health · 2017Article
- Own and partner pain intensity in older couples: longitudinal effects on depressive symptoms.Pain · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesFor older adults coping with a spouse's chronic condition, greater marital satisfaction may not be entirely protective for psychological health. We examined marital satisfaction and gender as moderators of the association between perceived spousal suffering and daily emotional contagion. Based on empathy-altruism and interdependent self-construal theories, we hypothesized that high marital satisfaction and being female would heighten daily emotional contagion, or within-person associations between perceived spouse suffering and distress to spouse suffering.
methodForty-five older adults who had a spouse with a musculoskeletal condition completed daily interviews. Participants reported their marital satisfaction once in the laboratory and then daily perceptions of their spouse's physical suffering and their own distress to spouse suffering via phone at home for 7 days.
resultsConsistent with hypotheses, there were significant within-person effects such that highly satisfied wives experienced heightened emotional contagion on days when they perceived higher than average spouse suffering. Unexpectedly, men who were high in marital satisfaction experienced heightened daily distress irrespective of their perceptions of level of spousal suffering. DISCUSSION: Marital satisfaction can increase daily emotional contagion to spousal suffering among older couples dealing with chronic conditions. Wives' distress may be more dependent on perceiving high levels of partner suffering compared with husbands' distress.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.