Family influence on physical health during the middle years: The case of onset of hypertension

Using survival analysis for 367 married women and 340 married men, this art icle investigates (a) change in hazard rates and survival probabilities wit h age for the onset of hypertension and (b) the influences of stressful mar ital and parental relationships on the hazard rates and survival probabilit ies of hypertension. Hazard and survival plots show that the risk for hyper tension increases during the middle years to maximum, then decreases with a ge for both men and women. loglogistic survival models demonstrate that alt hough marital stress significantly increases the likelihood of earlier hype rtension among these longtime married men and women, parental stress increa ses the likelihood of earlier hypertension only for women. These models con trol for the effects of stressful work conditions, health behaviors, hostil ity, and education. Employing a longitudinal research design strengthens co nfidence in the findings. The findings demonstrate that stressful close rel ationships map be more important determinants of physical health than is ge nerally assumed.