Couple Religiosity and Well-Being Among Older Adults in the United States

Understanding the Interplay of Religion, Social Relationships, and Depressive Symptoms in Later Life: An Analysis of Dynamics in Individual and Dyadic Contexts

This study examined how religious participation at the individual level and the dyadic religious similarity at the couple level influenced depressive symptoms via social relationships among older Korean couples aged 65 and above. The sample included 1,191 couples from the seventh assessment of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing. The findings indicated that older adults who participated in religious activities more frequently showed lower levels of depressive symptoms through increased social interactions and marital satisfaction. Additionally, older couples with similar religious backgrounds showed higher levels of marital satisfaction than those without similar religious backgrounds, subsequently leading to lower levels of depressive symptoms. Overall, the associations between religion and depressive symptoms were similar for both genders. The findings provided insights into potential mechanisms leading to later-life depressive symptoms at both the individual and couple levels in terms of religion and social relationships and informed practical implications for older couples' marital relationships.

On religious ambiguity: Childhood family religiosity and adult flourishing in a twin sample

Ambiguity is an important notion in sociology, denoting situations where social actors and groups carry on without shared meaning. The current article applies this concept to the context of religiosity during people's upbringing, recognizing that multiple factors make family-level religion a complex experience. Indeed, though recent research portrays household religiosity in childhood as a sociocultural exposure with long-term implications for well-being, existing studies have yet to incorporate multiple inputs to consider the cohesiveness of that exposure. Using twin data from a national sample, we investigate whether consistency in recalled household religiosity is associated with mid-life flourishing. Multi-level linear regression models reveal that similarity in twin reports matter, above and beyond the actual level of religiosity individuals report and net of dis/similarity across other childhood recollections. We conclude that coherence in religious upbringing-whether religion was understood to be important or not-is a key ingredient for thriving later in life and then reflect more broadly on manifestations of sociocultural ambiguity in families and in larger social units.

Health Behavior Patterns and Associated Risk of Memory-Related Disorders Among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Couples

Objectives: Studies on the interdependence of couples' health behaviors and subsequent cognitive outcomes remain limited. Methods: Longitudinal data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011-2018) were used (N = 1869 heterosexual couples). Latent class analysis identified the dyadic pattern of health behaviors in 2011 (i.e., alcohol consumption, smoking, and physical inactivity). Stratified Cox models examined the association of latent classes with risk of developing memory-related disorders in 2013-2018. Results: Three classes were identified: class 1 (21.25%, only husband smoke, and both active), class 2 (47.55%, both inactive, neither drink nor smoke), and class 3 (31.20%, both drink and smoke, and both active). Couples' sedentary lifestyle was associated with an increased risk of memory-related disorders among both husbands and wives. Conclusion: Couples were moderately concordant in their physical activity but weakly in smoking and drinking. Couple-based interventions, especially promoting physical activity, may reduce cognitive aging among middle-aged and older Chinese couples.