Journal
JOURNAL OF AGING AND HEALTH
Volume 34, Issue 4-5, Pages 550-568Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/08982643211048664
Keywords
life course; marital quality; childhood adversity; depression; happiness
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The study found that marital support has a stronger impact on men from different childhood environments, while women's subjective well-being in the context of marital strain may be affected by financial hardship in childhood.
Objectives: We integrate the life course perspective with the stress-process model to offer a framework for how childhood conditions moderate the relationship between marital support/strain and subjective well-being in older adulthood for men and women. Methods: Drawing on longitudinal data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), we use a series of lagged dependent-variable models and stratify the sample by gender. Results: Our results suggest that the benefits associated with greater marital support are stronger for those that did not live with both parents in childhood for men. Women raised in families that experienced financial hardship reported lower subjective well-being in the context of marital strain. Conclusion: Adverse experiences in childhood can be scarring or foster resilience related to well-being in the context of strained or supportive marriages.
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