Life sustaining irritations? Relationship quality and mortality in the context of chronic illness

Kira Birditt and Toni C. Antonucci

Social Science & Medicine, 2008, vol. 67, issue 8, 1291-1299

Abstract: The social integration and mortality link are well documented but not well understood. To address this issue, the present study examined the context within which relationship quality affects mortality over a 19-year period. Participants were 40 years and older from Waves 1 (1986) and 2 (1989) of the nationally representative Americans' Changing Lives Study (NÂ =Â 2098). Interviews included questions about health and positive and negative relationship qualities with spouse, children, and friends/relatives. A total of 39% (NÂ =Â 827) of participants were deceased by 2005. In support of the main effect model, Cox proportional hazard regressions revealed that consistently low levels of positive support and an increase in negativity from spouse or child from 1986 to 1989 were associated with increased mortality. In support of the buffering effect, among people with chronic illnesses, negative relations at baseline were associated with decreased mortality. We conclude that the social relations-mortality link is more complex than previously understood and is influenced by the context.

Keywords: USA; Mortality; Social; relationships; Chronic; illness; Survival; analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(08)00336-5
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:67:y:2008:i:8:p:1291-1299

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().