Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychology, Wayne State University
2. Department of Psychology, Middle East Technical University
3. Department of Human Development, Cornell University
Abstract
Several decades of research have demonstrated that marital relationships have a powerful influence on physical health. However, surprisingly little is known about how marriage affects health—both in terms of psychological processes and biological ones. Over a 10-year period, we investigated the associations between perceived partner responsiveness—the extent to which people feel understood, cared for, and appreciated by their romantic partners—and diurnal cortisol in a large sample of married and cohabitating couples in the United States. Partner responsiveness predicted higher cortisol values at awakening and steeper (i.e., healthier) cortisol slopes at the 10-year follow-up. These associations remained strong after we controlled for demographic factors, depressive symptoms, agreeableness, and other positive and negative relationship factors. Furthermore, declines in negative affect over the 10-year period mediated the prospective association between responsiveness and cortisol slope. These findings suggest that diurnal cortisol may be a key biological pathway through which social relationships affect long-term health.
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87 articles.
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