ArticlePsychological science2019
Having a Happy Spouse Is Associated With Lowered Risk of Mortality.
Article in Psychological science, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of Brisk Walking on Health-Related Physical Fitness Balance and Life Satisfaction Among the Elderly: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in public health · 2021Pooled it
- The Relationship Between the Level of Satisfaction of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Loneliness, Happiness and Life Satisfaction in Elderly Individuals.Journal of clinical nursing · 2026Article
- Whose health matters? Longitudinal analyses of older romantic couples' health, physical capabilities, and sexual experiences.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Associations of Romantic Partners' Characteristics with Alcohol Consumption and Binge Drinking: Examining Evidence for Gene-Environment Interaction.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2025Article
- Equation Built by Multiple Adaptive Regression Spline to Estimate Biological Age in Healthy Postmenopausal Women in Taiwan.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Positivity resonance in long-term married couples: Multimodal characteristics and consequences for health and longevity.Journal of personality and social psychology · 2022Article
- Longitudinal Dyadic Effects of Aging Self-Perceptions on Health.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2021Article
- Dissatisfaction with Married Life in Men Is Related to Increased Stroke and All-Cause Mortality.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
- Optimism, pessimism, and health biomarkers in older couples.British journal of health psychology · 2020Article
- Positive attitudes and negative expectations in lonely individuals.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- A Matter of the Heart: Daytime Relationship Functioning and Overnight Heart Rate in Young Dating Couples.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2020Article
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Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Studies have shown that individuals' choice of a life partner predicts their life outcomes, from their relationship satisfaction to their career success. The present study examined whether the reach of one's spouse extends even further, to the ultimate life outcome: mortality. A dyadic survival analysis using a representative sample of elderly couples ( N = 4,374) followed for up to 8 years showed that a 1-standard-deviation-higher level of spousal life satisfaction was associated with a 13% lower mortality risk. This effect was robust to controlling for couples' socioeconomic situation (e.g., household income), both partners' sociodemographic characteristics, and baseline health. Exploratory mediation analyses pointed toward partner and actor physical activity as sequential mediators. These findings suggest that life satisfaction has not only intrapersonal but also interpersonal associations with longevity and contribute to the fields of epidemiology, positive psychology, and relationship research.
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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.