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For Better or Worse: an Assessment of the ‘Linked Lives’ Concept and the Race-Based Effects of Partner Stress on Self-Rated Health Among Older Adults

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Abstract

Objective

The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of the life course framework concept of “linked lives” for examining the effects of partner stress on self-rated health among older adult populations.

Method

Data were derived from a partner-dyad study of Miami-Dade County residents and their significant others. We limited our analysis to respondents ages 60 or older (n = 409).

Results

Regression analyses revealed that greater levels of personally experienced major life events were associated with worse self-rated health. However, the association between a significant other’s stress exposure and one’s own self-rated health was only statistically significant among Black respondents.

Discussion

Extending prior study indicating that Black Americans tend to have worse self-rated health later in life relative to other racial groups, these findings demonstrate the utility of the linked lives concept for furthering an understanding of racial disparities in health based upon loved ones’ stressful experiences.

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Funding

The authors received the following financial support for the research and/authorship of this article: project supported by grants R01DA13292 and R01DA16429 from NIDA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Kentucky, 1515 Patterson Office Tower, Lexington, KY, 40506, USA

    Myles D. Moody & Robyn L. Brown

  2. Department of Sociology, Utah State University, Old Main 224E, Logan, UT, 84322, USA

    Gabriele Ciciurkaite

Authors
  1. Myles D. Moody
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  2. Robyn L. Brown
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  3. Gabriele Ciciurkaite
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Correspondence to Myles D. Moody.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Moody, M.D., Brown, R.L. & Ciciurkaite, G. For Better or Worse: an Assessment of the ‘Linked Lives’ Concept and the Race-Based Effects of Partner Stress on Self-Rated Health Among Older Adults. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 6, 861–867 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-019-00585-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-019-00585-w

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