MARITAL CONFLICT IN OLDER ADULTS - ENDOCRINOLOGIC AND IMMUNOLOGICAL CORRELATES

Objective: To assess endocrinological and immunological correlates of marital conflict and marital satisfaction, 31 older couples (mean age 67 years) who had been married an average of 42 years were studied. Me thod: Couples were admitted to the Clinical Research Center and a cath eter was placed in each subject's arm. Blood was drawn on entry for im munological assays; for hormone analyses, five blood samples were draw n during a 30-minute conflict discussion and a 15-minute recovery sess ion. The conflict session was recorded on videotapes that were later c oded for problem-solving behaviors using the Marital Interaction Codin g System (MICS), Results: Among wives, escalation of negative behavior during conflict and marital satisfaction showed strong relationships to endocrine changes, accounting for 16% to 21% of the variance in the rates of change of cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and norepinephrine (but not epinephrine). In contrast, husbands' endocrine data did not show significant relationships with negative behavior or marital quality. Both men and women who showed relatively poorer immu nological responses across three functional assays (the blastogenic re sponse to two T-cell mitogens and antibody titers to latent Epstein-Ba rr virus) displayed more negative behavior during conflict; they also characterized their usual marital disagreements as more negative than individuals who showed better immune responses across assays. Conclusi on: Abrasive marital interactions may have physiological consequences even among older adults in long-term marriages.