It is estimated that 88% of all older adults have at least one chronic condition, 69% have more than one chronic condition, and 33% experience functional disability. Thus, married older adults are not only likely to cope with chronic conditios and disability of their own but also their spouse's. Understanding how support dynamics in marriage influence each partner's health will provide great insight into helping couples stay healthier and functionally independent into late life.
The aim of the proposed Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (MRSDA) is to train the candidate in epidemiology of aging and advanced dyadic data analysis techniques to build on her expertise in experimental research and to understand how mutual care in late-life marriage influence health, particularly cardiovascular health and depression, and longevity. The proposed research focuses on older couples in which both partners suffer from chronic conditions and disability, and drawing from communal relationships theory, mutual care is defined as both partners receiving high levels of balanced instrumental and emotional support from one another. Through this MRSDA, the candidate will (1) learn from expert mentors and consultants about the epidemiology of aging and advanced statistical techniques to analyze dyadic, longitudinal data, (2) conduct secondary analysis on a large epidemiologic dyadic data set to examine how mutual care in older adult marriages influences long-term health and longevity and an experiment to examine a proposed mechanism, cardiovascular stress recovery, (3) complete coursework in epidemiology of aging, advanced epidemiologic statistics, and research ethics, and (4) attend workshops on dyadic data analysis. Yale University is a phenomenal environment to pursue this training as it has extensive resources in epidemiology of aging, statistics for analyzing epidemiologic data, experimental relationships research, and cardiovascular psychophysiology. The candidate has a state-of-the- art observational and psychophysiology lab that she will utilize for this project. Th Yale School of Public Health and the Claude D. Pepper Older American's Independence Center at Yale have excellent junior faculty mentoring programs. The candidate's primary mentor, Dr. Becca Levy at Yale School of Public Health has extensive expertise in bridging experimental and epidemiological methods to study psychosocial factors and health in older adults, including dyads. Dr. Richard Schulz will serve as a co-mentor, as he is the primary investigator for the Cardiovascular Health Effects Study which will be used for Study 1 of the proposed research and is an expert in conducting large, longitudinal studies. Dr. Trace Kershaw, an expert in dyadic data analysis at Yale School of Public Health, will also be a co-mentor. The proposed training will occur in the context of (1) a longitudinal study of married couples in which both members of the couple have chronic conditions and disability (Study 1; The Caregiver Health Effects Study; n=819 couples; an ancillary study to the Cardiovascular Health Study) examining the influence of mutual support on health trajectories (e.g. clinical and subclinical indicators of cardiovascular disease, clinical depression, and self-reported health) and longevity, and (2) an experimental study (Study 2; n=100 couples) examining cardiovascular stress recovery, a proposed mechanism for the link between mutual care and cardiovascular health proposed in Study 1. In the experimental study each partner will discuss a health-related stressor, and mutual support will be manipulated and compared to a control and one-sided support conditions to examine the effects on cardiovascular stress recovery. Consistent with the priorities outlined by the National Institute on Aging, the proposed MRSDA has the potential to address mechanisms for links between interpersonal relationships and health in the context of aging (RFA: PA-11-128). Further, the combination of training and research will serve as a spring board for the candidate's independent research career to elucidate how interpersonal relationships influence health among older adults.

Public Health Relevance

It is estimated that 88% of all older adults have at least one chronic condition, 69% have more than one chronic condition, and 33% are functionally disabled. Married older adults are not only likely to cope with chronic conditions and disability of their own but also their spouse's. Understanding how support dynamics in marriage influence each partner's health will provide great insight into helping older adults stay healthy and maintain functional independence into late life.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Scientist Development Award - Research & Training (K01)
Project #
5K01AG042450-03
Application #
8851484
Study Section
Neuroscience of Aging Review Committee (NIA)
Program Officer
Gerald, Melissa S
Project Start
2013-06-01
Project End
2016-05-31
Budget Start
2015-06-01
Budget End
2016-05-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Yale University
Department
Public Health & Prev Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
043207562
City
New Haven
State
CT
Country
United States
Zip Code
MacNeil Vroomen, Janet L; Han, Ling; Monin, Joan K et al. (2018) Diabetes, Heart Disease, and Dementia: National Estimates of Functional Disability Trajectories. J Am Geriatr Soc 66:766-772
Andersson, Matthew A; Monin, Joan K (2018) Informal Care Networks in the Context of Multimorbidity: Size, Composition, and Associations With Recipient Psychological Well-Being. J Aging Health 30:641-664
Monin, Joan K; Xu, Annie; Mitchell, Hannah-Rose et al. (2018) Recalling support provision decreases distress and anger in response to partner suffering. Aging Ment Health 22:587-594
MacNeil-Vroomen, Janet; Schulz, Richard; Doyle, Margaret et al. (2018) Time-varying social support and time to death in the cardiovascular health study. Health Psychol 37:1000-1005
Monin, Joan K; Doyle, Margaret; Van Ness, Peter H et al. (2018) Longitudinal Associations Between Cognitive Functioning and Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adult Spouses in the Cardiovascular Health Study. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 26:1036-1046
Monin, Joan K; Levy, Becca R; Kane, Heidi S (2017) To Love is to Suffer: Older Adults' Daily Emotional Contagion to Perceived Spousal Suffering. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 72:383-387
Schulz, Richard; Savla, Jyoti; Czaja, Sara J et al. (2017) The role of compassion, suffering, and intrusive thoughts in dementia caregiver depression. Aging Ment Health 21:997-1004
Monin, Joan K; Poulin, Michael J; Brown, Stephanie L et al. (2017) Spouses' daily feelings of appreciation and self-reported well-being. Health Psychol 36:1135-1139
Monin, Joan K; Mota, Natalie; Levy, Becca et al. (2017) Older Age Associated with Mental Health Resiliency in Sexual Minority US Veterans. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 25:81-90
Monin, Joan K; Levy, Becca; Doyle, Margaret et al. (2017) The impact of both spousal caregivers' and care recipients' health on relationship satisfaction in the Caregiver Health Effects Study. J Health Psychol :1359105317699682

Showing the most recent 10 out of 20 publications