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Chapter 8

Interestingly,despitelossescommonin

theelderly—retirement,decreasedorloss

of sexualfunctioning,andlossof a

spouse—psychologicaldistressand

depressioncontinuetodecreaseinolder

adults.Thismaybeduetoaproportional

decreaseinstressinotherareasof life.For

example,if theyhavepreparedwell,older

couplesnolongerexperiencethestressesof

balancingwork,familyresponsibilities,and

finances.Thisworkstotheadvantageof

olderadults,especiallywomen,whoexhibit

lessdistressandmorepositiveemotions

thanineitherof thetwoyoungerfemale

adultstages(Kessleretal.,2004).

In a study by the National Council on

theAging (NCOA),older adults reported

that having family and friends was the

biggest key to a meaningful and vital life,

followed by taking care of one’s health,

one’s spiritual life,and community

involvement (American Perceptions on

Aging,2002).The spiritual life of the

elderly,as pointed out by the NCOA,is in

part where the elderly gain a sense of

meaning in life.Religious participation

has been found to reduce the likelihood of

some illnesses (Anderson &Anderson,

2003),positively impact mood (Koenig,

George,& Peterson,1998) and actually

improve longevity of life (McMullough et

al.,2000).The importance of spirituality is

reflected in the church attendance of the

elderly,51% higher than any other age

group (Barna,2005).

Marital and Life Satisfaction in

the Later Years

AsindicatedinFigure8.2,theMarital

SatisfactionCurve,marriagesatisfaction,

whichisrelativelylowduringtheearlyphase

ofthemiddleyears,sharplyincreasesafter

age50.Whilebothmenandwomenbenefit

fromasatisfyingmarriage,adissatisfying

marriagetendstobemoredetrimentalfor

women(Galloetal.,2003;Troxel,Matthews,

Gallo,&Kuller,2005).Forwomen,the

qualityofthemaritalrelationshipisthe

greatestpredictorformaritalsatisfaction,

muchstrongerthanformen(Goodman,

1999;Schmidt,Kliegel,&Shapiro,2007).

Both husbands and wives benefit physically and

emotionally from marriage.

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