DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS ACROSS OLDER SPOUSES - LONGITUDINAL INFLUENCES

Cross-sectional findings that depressive symptoms in one older spouse influence those of the other and that marital closeness increases the influences(R.B. Tower & S.V. Kasl, 1995)were tested longitudinally. In dependent interviews in 1982, 1985, and 1988 with spouse-pairs who par ticipated in the Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study o f the Elderly showed that changes in depressive symptoms in one older spouse contributed to changes in depressive symptoms in the other. For wives in 1985 and for husbands in 1988, a spouse's baseline;depressiv e symptoms also contributed independent variance to an increase in res pondent's score on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Sca le. These findings were stronger when a couple was close. These result s held when known intrapersonal risk factors and the health status of the spouse were controlled.