Cynical Hostility and Loneliness in Older Adult Married Couples: An Indirect Effect Through Friendships.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Cynical hostility is a cognitive schema according to which people cannot be trusted, and it has associations with individuals' loneliness. The present study takes a dyadic approach to examine whether cynical hostility is related to one's own and their spouse's loneliness. We further explore whether friendship factors serve as a mediator between individuals' and spouses' cynical hostility and loneliness.

Method

We used 2 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (N = 1,065 couples) and Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (APIMs) with mediation to examine the proposed model. Mediation was tested with the construction of path models and significance levels were reached using bootstrapping.

Results

For both husbands and wives, cynical hostility was significantl

SUBMITTER: Segel-Karpas D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7813177 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature