Marriage is often regarded as one of the most vital aspects of Hispanic culture. This is largely attributed to the traditional Hispanic cultural values— Familismo. Marriage is not just a union between two individuals, but an extension of the most significant social network – family – over other forms of social relationships, such as friendship networks and professional networks. Because of its cultural significance, marriage can impact many aspects of life, such as health, happiness, and quality of life among Hispanic adults.

One’s social network tends to shrink in later life for three reasons. First, language barriers may prevent making friends and participating in social activities. One in three Hispanic adults are immigrants in the United States, and English may not be their first language. Second, not all Hispanic immigrants or Hispanic Americans are fully acculturated to the mainstream U.S. culture, and therefore, are left behind in cultural and political participation. Third, from a life course perspective, some older adults experience aging-related changes, such as retirement from work (e.g., partial loss of professional network) and functional limitations (e.g., hearing impairment, joint pain). These aging-related changes may make their existing social network smaller and make it challenging for some older adults to be socially engaged. As a result, Hispanic older adults may rely more heavily on their spouses and immediate family for companionship and socialization.

Previous research has shown that the quality of close social relationships — spouses, family, and other social circles — can impact older adults’ health and happiness. One of the longest-running 85-year-old (and counting) research studies by Harvard University showed that people who maintained positive social relationships, regardless of the size of their social circle, are more likely to be happy in later life. Also, a number of research studies show that social relationships are linked with optimal aging, health, and well-being.

So, perhaps it sounds like having a good social relationship is all that matters? Not so fast. Family sociologists Kristi Williams, Adrianne French, and Daniel Carlson explain that marriages can have different impacts on one’s life. On the one hand, the marital resource model suggests that marriage can provide an essential social circle (e.g., a sense of belonging) and a variety of other forms of economic and instrumental support. On the other hand, the marital crisis model suggests that a “bad” marriage and relationship conflicts are major sources of stress, which leads to mental health problems. And it is also possible that people who have good mental health, resources (e.g., financial resources), and social skills just get married and stay married.

What happens when a marital relationship is not entirely positive? Two things. Marital quality matters. Having a close social relationship is one thing, but the quality of that relationship may impact health and well-being. Culture matters. When people value certain aspects of life, such as family relationships, based on their cultural briefs and norms, the impacts on health and well-being become larger. In other words, a “good” marriage may provide more health benefits, whereas “bad” marriage may harm health even more among people with a family-oriented cultural background. Let us also not forget that a marital relationship can be both good in some aspects and bad in other aspects.

Putting these puzzle pieces together, we decided to learn more about marital quality, which is important to our health, and Hispanic older adults who have unique demographic characteristics (e.g., high % of immigrants) and culturally value family relationships (i.e., Familismo) in the United States.

In our recent research, we looked at the relationships between marital quality and depressive symptoms among older married Hispanic adults aged 51 years and older in the United States. We analyzed the data from the 2016 and 2018 U.S. Health and Retirement Study. Positive marital quality of Hispanic older adults is assessed by their ratings of whether their spouses understand their feelings, can be relied on for serious problems, and listen to their worries. Negative marital quality is assessed based on their rating of how often their spouses make too many demands, criticize them, let them down, and get on their nerves.

We found that both positive and negative marital quality are related to the number of depressive symptoms reported. Positive marital quality is protective of depressive symptoms and negative marital quality is detrimental to depressive symptoms. Indeed, Hispanic older adults who reported higher positive marital quality scores (1-4 points: low-high) by 1 point, had about 24% fewer depressive symptoms. Those who reported higher negative marital quality scores (1-4 points: low-high) by 1 point had about 24% greater number of depressive symptoms.

Our research suggests that promoting marital relationships is a public health investment. Family support and social support policies are public health policies in the United States. Throughout adult life stages, aging is related to changing social networks, which may lead to greater reliance on close family relationships in later life. The impact of social relationships and relationship quality on health may differ based on sociocultural background. In this respect, marital quality can be more imperative to Hispanic older adults, as some of them may face limited social circles due to language and cultural barriers in U.S. society, despite the cultural significance of familism. A better understanding of marital quality and sociocultural characteristics can help develop culturally sensitive public health and family support policies. Our research project will continue disentangling complex relationships between marital quality and health among Hispanic older adults. We believe that other cultural characteristics, such as religiosity and alcohol consumption as a stress coping mechanism, can help us better understand what sociocultural factors matter to the health of Hispanic older adults.

About authors:

Jaminette M. Nazario-Acevedo, MPH, is a doctoral student in the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Gerontology Doctoral Program. Her research interests are aging and health among Hispanic populations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Follow her on Twitter @Jaminettena

Takashi Yamashita, PhD, MA, MPH, FGSA is a professor of sociology and gerontology at UMBC. His research interests are the wider benefits of lifelong learning and education over the life course, health literacy, gerontology education, and social statistics education. You can follow him on Twitter @dryamataka

Jennifer Roebuck Bulanda, PhD, MA, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Gerontology at Miami University. Her research interests include family relationships and their connections with physical and mental health, particularly during the later life course. You can follow her on Twitter at @JenBulanda

J. Scott Brown, PhD, MA, MS, FGSA is Professor and Chair of Sociology and Gerontology and a Scripps Gerontology Center Research Fellow at Miami University. His research interests are inequalities in health across the life course, especially racial and ethnic inequalities, and statistical and quantitative methodologies.