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. 2015 Summer;21(3):208-17.
doi: 10.1310/sci2103-208. Epub 2015 Jul 29.

Impact of Marital Status on 20-Year Subjective Well-being Trajectories

Yue Cao  1 , James S Krause  1 , Lee L Saunders  1 , Jillian M R Clark  1
Affiliations

Impact of Marital Status on 20-Year Subjective Well-being Trajectories

Yue Cao et al. Top Spinal Cord Inj Rehabil. 2015 Summer.

Abstract

Background: It is well-known that marital status has a significant impact on subjective well-being (SWB). However, research examining the long-term influence of marital status on SWB after spinal cord injury (SCI) is limited.

Objective: To identify the relationship between marital status and SWB trajectories over time, using 20 years of longitudinal data.

Methods: We conducted a cohort study, including 1,032 participants surveyed 5 times in 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008, and 2013. Participants were identified from outpatient records of 2 Midwestern hospitals and 1 Southeastern specialty hospital. The Life Situation Questionnaire-Revised (LSQ-R) was used to measure multiple aspects of SWB. A multilevel model was applied to analyze the 5 repeated measurements.

Results: The married or cohabitating participants enjoyed the best SWB at baseline, but their home satisfaction and global satisfaction declined over time and their social isolation increased slightly. For divorced, separated, or widowed people, the negative effects of marital loss attenuated over time. For single individuals, SWB, except for environmental barriers, did not change positively over time if they remained single.

Conclusions: Using longitudinal data with 5 repeated measurements, our study showed a complicated relationship between marital and relationship status with SWB and how these relationships change over time for people with chronic SCI.

Keywords: life problem; life satisfaction; marital status; spinal cord injury; subjective well-being.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Three marital status trajectories of 3 life satisfaction subscales, assuming the marital status does not change over 20 years for a male, White participant who could walk, injured at the age 29, surveyed at the age of 42, and had 12 years of education. DSW = divorced, separated, or widowed; MC = married or cohabitating; S = single, noncohabitating.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Three marital status trajectories of 6 life problem subscales, assuming the marital status does not change over 20 years for a male, White participant who could walk, injured at the age 29, surveyed at the age of 42, and had 12 years of education. DSW = divorced, separated, or widowed; MC = married or cohabitating; S = single, noncohabitating.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Home satisfaction trajectories for changed marital status, assuming the marital status does not change over 20 years for a male, White participant who could walk, injured at the age 29, surveyed at the age of 42, and had 12 years of education and assuming a married participant was divorced at the third measures, and a divorced participant was married again at the third measures, and a single one kept the same. DSW = divorced, separated, or widowed; MC = married or cohabitating; S = single, noncohabitating.
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References

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