THE INFLUENCE OF AGE AND GENDER ON AFFECT, PHYSIOLOGY, AND THEIR INTERRELATIONS - A STUDY OF LONG-TERM MARRIAGES

Self-reported affect and autonomic and somatic physiology were studied during three 15-min conversations (events of the day, problem area, p leasant topic) in a sample of 151 couples in long-term marriages. Coup les differed in age (40-50 or 60-70) and marital satisfaction (satisfi ed or dissatisfied). Marital interaction in older couples was associat ed with more affective positivity and lower physiological arousal (eve n when controlling for affective differences) than in middle-age coupl es. As has previously been found with younger couples, marital dissati sfaction was associated with less positive affect, greater negative af fect, and greater negative affect reciprocity. In terms of the relatio n between physiological arousal and affective experience, husbands rep orted feeling more negative the more they were physiologically aroused ; for wives, affect and arousal were not correlated. These findings ar e related to theories of socioemotional change with age and of gender differences in marital behavior and health.