Linked Lives: Exploring Gender and Sedentary Behaviors in Older Adult Couples

Couples-based health behavior change interventions: A relationship science perspective on the unique opportunities and challenges to improve dyadic health

Epidemiological studies indicate that better marital quality is associated with less morbidity and premature mortality. A number of interpersonal processes related to marital quality are also associated with health-relevant surrogate biomarkers across different physiological systems. Despite these replicated correlational findings, few interventions have harnessed interpersonal processes as potential interventions to enhance health. Building on Dr. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser's model of relationships and health, we propose that couples-based health behavior change interventions may represent an effective way to decrease dysregulation across autonomic, endocrine and immune systems and, ultimately, improve dyadic health. Given that the cohabiting partner is an essential part of the social context in which the behavior change is being pursued, it is important to consider the relational issues triggered by dyadic interventions. Using a relationship science perspective, this article reviews the literature on couples' concordance in health behaviors and health outcomes, the potential pathways underlying this concordance, theories of the couple as a self-sustaining social system, dyadic adaptation of individual self-regulation strategies, effective and ineffective social support and social control in couple relationships, the integration of relationship-building and health behavior change strategies, and the consideration of key moderators related to the nature of the relationship and the context surrounding the relationship. These findings highlight the importance of adopting a relationship science perspective when designing and testing dyadic interventions to improve health outcomes. The data reviewed provide insights on how to optimize couples-based health behavior change interventions to reduce physiological dysregulation and improve dyadic health.

Between- and Within-Couple Concordance for Health Behaviors Among Japanese Older Married Couples: Examining the Moderating Role of Working Time

BACKGROUND

Although previous studies report spousal concordance for health behaviors at between-couple levels, concordance at within-couple levels remains unconfirmed. To clarify the behavioral mechanisms of spousal concordance for health behaviors among older couples at both levels, it is necessary to examine the moderators (effect modifiers) of spousal concordance. This study examined (1) whether spousal concordance for dietary variety, exercise behavior, and TV viewing behavior was observed at both the between-couple and the within-couple levels and (2) whether this spousal concordance was moderated by working time among older Japanese couples.

METHOD

This study analyzed data obtained from a questionnaire-based, three-wave longitudinal survey (baseline, 1-year follow-up, 3-year follow-up) among 210 Japanese older couples. Each spouse's dietary variety, exercise time, TV viewing time, the couple's working time, and demographic factors were investigated by multi-level analyses.

RESULTS

One spouse's dietary variety and TV viewing time, but not exercise time, were significantly associated with the other spouse's corresponding behaviors at both levels. The regressions of the wife's TV viewing time on the husband's TV viewing time were moderated by working time at the within-couple level; the regressive effects of wife's TV viewing time on husband's TV viewing time were more relevant as working time was lower.

CONCLUSION

This study found that spousal concordance for dietary variety and TV viewing was observed at within-couple and between-couple levels among older Japanese couples. In addition, shorter working time partly moderates the wife's influence on the husband's TV viewing among older couples at the within-couple level.

Association of 7-Day Profiles of Motor Activity in Marital Dyads with One Component Affected by Parkinson's Disease

(1) Background: A noticeable association between the motor activity (MA) profiles of persons living together has been found in previous studies. Social actigraphy methods have shown that this association, in marital dyads composed of healthy individuals, is greater than that of a single person compared to itself. This study aims at verifying the association of MA profiles in dyads where one component is affected by Parkinson's disease (PD). (2) Methods: Using a wearable sensor-based social actigraphy approach, we continuously monitored, for 7 days, the activities of 27 marital dyads including one component with PD. (3) Results: The association of motor activity profiles within a marital dyad (cross-correlation coefficient 0.344) is comparable to the association of any participant with themselves (0.325). However, when considering the disease severity quantified by the UPDRS III score, it turns out that the less severe the symptoms, the more associated are the MA profiles. (4) Conclusions: Our findings suggest that PD treatment could be improved by leveraging the MA of the healthy spouse, thus promoting lifestyles also beneficial for the component affected by PD. The actigraphy approach provided valuable information on habitual functions and motor fluctuations, and could be useful in investigating the response to treatment.

To Live Together Is to Move Together: Social Actigraphy Applied to Healthy Elderly People

(1) Background: Actigraphic methods allow prolonged monitoring of human physical activity (PA) by wearable sensors in a real-life unsupervised context. They generally do not characterize the social context, and nearby persons can have a modulating effect on the performed PA. The present study aims to apply an existing method for bimanual actigraphy to both components of a marital dyad to verify the level of association between the two PA profiles. Other dyad comparisons complete the overall figure. (2) Methods: Seven-day actigraphic recordings collected from both components of 20 married couples of retired, cohabiting, healthy subjects (age ranging from 58 to 87 years) were considered. (3) Results: PA profiles of a marital dyad are significantly more correlated (coefficient: 0.444) than unrelated couples (0.278). Interestingly, participants' profiles compared with their own recording shifted by 24 h, evidencing an intermediate level of association (0.335). Data from the literature, the high association (0.875) of individual right and left wrist profiles, enforce the analysis. (4) Conclusions: The proposed method, called "social actigraphy", confirmed that the partner has a relevant effect on one's PA profile, thus suggesting involving the partner in programs concerning lifestyle changes and patient rehabilitation.