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The Influence of Age and Gender on Affect, Physiology, and Their Interrelations: A Study of Long-Term Marriages

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Robert Levenson at University of California, Berkeley
Robert Levenson
Laura L. Carstensen
Laura L. Carstensen
Laura L. Carstensen
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John M. Gottman at THE GOTTMAN INSTITUTE
John M. Gottman
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Abstract

Self-reported affect and autonomic and somatic physiology were studied during three 15-min conversations (events of the day, problem area, pleasant topic) in a sample of 151 couples in long-term marriages. Couples differed in age (40–50 or 60–70) and marital satisfaction (satisfied or dissatisfied). Marital interaction in older couples was associated with more affective positivity and lower physiological arousal (even when controlling for affective differences) than in middle-age couples. As has previously been found with younger couples, marital dissatisfaction was associated with less positive affect, greater negative affect, and greater negative affect reciprocity. In terms of the relation between physiological arousal and affective experience, husbands reported feeling more negative the more they were physiologically aroused; for wives, affect and arousal were not correlated. These findings are related to theories of socioemotional change with age and of gender differences in marital behavior and health.
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INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS AND GROUP
PROCESSES
The Influence of Age and Gender on Affect, Physiology, and Their
Interrelations: A Study of Long-Term Marriages
Robert
W.
Levenson, Laura
L.
Carstensen, and John M. Gottman
Self-reported affect and autonomic and somatic physiology were studied during three 15-min con-
versations (events of the day, problem area, pleasant topic) in a sample of
151
couples in long-term
marriages. Couples differed in age (40-50 or 60-70) and marital satisfaction (satisfied or dissatis-
fied). Marital interaction in older couples was associated with more affective positivity and lower
physiological arousal (even when controlling for affective differences) than in middle-age
couples.
As
has previously been found with younger couples, marital dissatisfaction was associated with less
positive affect, greater negative affect, and greater negative affect reciprocity. In terms of the relation
between physiological arousal and affective experience, husbands reported feeling more negative the
more they were physiologically aroused; for wives, affect and arousal were not correlated. These
findings are related
to
theories of socioemotional
change
with
age
and of gender differences in marital
behavior and health.
In the experiment described in this article,
we
applied obser-
vational methods to study affect and physiology in the interac-
tions in a sample of middle-aged and older couples who have
been married for most of their adult lives. This article focuses
on four
issues:
(a) age-related differences in the affective quality
of marital interaction; (b) age-related differences in the physio-
logical activation produced by marital interaction; (c) continu-
ity in later life of affective markers of marital distress; and (d)
gender differences in the covariation between subjective emo-
tional experience and physiological activation. We begin by
briefly reviewing the literatures relevant to each issue.
Affective Quality of Marriage in Late Life
Most research on marriage has studied relatively young cou-
ples in the early stages of
marriage.
Much less is known about
the nature of long-term marriages in later life.
Marital
Satisfaction
Early cross-sectional studies of marriage indicated that mar-
ital satisfaction steadily declined over time (Blood & Wolfe,
Robert
W.
Levenson, Department of
Psychology,
University of Cali-
fornia, Berkeley; Laura
L.
Carstensen, Department of Psychology, Stan-
ford University; John M. Gottman, Department of Psychology, Univer-
sity of Washington.
This research was supported by National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Grant AG07476 to Robert W. Levenson, NIA Grant AGO8816 to
Laura L. Carstensen, and National Institute of Mental Health Grant
MH42722 and Research Scientist Development
Award
1KO2MHOO257
to John M. Gottman.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Rob-
ert W. Levenson, Department of Psychology, University of California,
Berkeley, California 94720.
1960;
Dentler & Pineo, 1960; Pineo, 1961, 1969). Subsequent
studies that more fully sampled marriages across the entire life
span revealed a much less monotonic and much more complex
pattern, with marital satisfaction reaching low points after the
birth of the first child and when children are adolescents, and
reaching high points at the beginning of marriage and when
children leave home (Anderson, Russell, & Schumm, 1983;
Burr,
1970;
Cowan
&
Pape-Cowan,
1988;
Doherty
&
Jacobson,
1982;
Rollins & Cannon, 1974; Thurnher, 1976). According to
popular lore, retirement is thought to have a major impact on
marital
quality.
Although
some
data suggest that retirement im-
proves marital quality
(e.g.,
Atchley,
1976;
Dorfman
&
Heckert,
1988;
Gilford, 1984), a number of studies have found it to have
little effect (e.g., Ekerdt & Vinick, 1991; Matthews & Brown,
1987;
Vinick & Ekerdt, 1991) or slightly negative effects (e.g.,
Lee & Shehan, 1989). In the present study, to avoid possible
confounds, we limited the sample to couples who had not yet
retired.
Affective Characteristics
On the basis of questionnaire and interview data, older cou-
ples have been described as largely happy, affectionate, and
emotionally
close
(e.g.,
Erikson, Erikson,
&
Kivnick,
1986;
Par-
ron, 1982; Stinnett, Carter, & Montgomery, 1972). Guilford
and Bengtson's (1979) multigenerational study of families indi-
cated that positive interaction followed a path somewhat like
that of marital satisfaction
(i.e.,
highest in the youngest couples,
lowest in
the middle-aged
couples,
and intermediate in the older
couples); an orthogonal quality, negative sentiment, decreased
linearly with
age.
Thus, in their older
couples,
positive interac-
tion would
be
moderately high and negative sentiment would be
Journal ofPersonality and Social Psychology,
1994,
Vol. 67, No.
1,56-68
Copyright 1994 by the American Psychological Association,
Inc.
0022-3514/94/S3.00
56
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... Previous research has shown that older adults reported better marital satisfaction, more positive and fewer negative emotions, more desirable interactions, and fewer undesirable interactions in a conflict than did younger adults (Seider et al., 2009). Older adults also exhibit more affectionate behaviors (Levenson et al., 1994), engage in more positive listening and communication (Pasupathi et al., 1999), demonstrate better conflict resolution skills (Levenson et al., 1994), perceive their partners more positively (Story et al., 2007) and engage more in conflict discussion (Srivastava et al., 2006) than do their younger counterparts. ...
... Previous research has shown that older adults reported better marital satisfaction, more positive and fewer negative emotions, more desirable interactions, and fewer undesirable interactions in a conflict than did younger adults (Seider et al., 2009). Older adults also exhibit more affectionate behaviors (Levenson et al., 1994), engage in more positive listening and communication (Pasupathi et al., 1999), demonstrate better conflict resolution skills (Levenson et al., 1994), perceive their partners more positively (Story et al., 2007) and engage more in conflict discussion (Srivastava et al., 2006) than do their younger counterparts. ...
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