NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Elderly men who are the rock of their relationship may outlive their peers who are not cited as a source of strength by their spouse, according to researchers.

Investigators found that men aged 65 and older who were named as a source of emotional strength by their wives were more likely to be alive 6 years later, after economic and medical factors were taken into account.

A person who is relied on by a spouse may feel valued, which can improve self-esteem and feelings of usefulness, Dr. Roni Beth Tower, who conducted the study while at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues suggest.

The report, published in a recent issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, adds to a growing body of research into the effects of marriage on physical and emotional well-being. Previous studies have tied marriage to longevity and lower levels of depression, particularly in men.

To investigate whether closeness within a marriage plays a role, the researchers interviewed 305 healthy couples at least 65 years old. The average length of marriage was more than 43 years and 85% of couples were in their first marriage.

Couples were deemed close if they named their spouse as a confidant or source of emotional strength, and if they were named by their spouse as a confidant or source of strength. From this definition, four patterns of marital closeness were possible: both the wife and husband naming the other; only the wife naming the husband; only the husband naming the wife; or neither naming the other as an emotional support.

The researchers found that a husband who named his wife was less likely to remain alive, possibly due to the stress of contemplating the eventual death of a wife who is a source of strength. Indeed, husbands who named their wives as sources of strength were also less likely to have faith that things would work out in the future, the study findings suggest.

This type of marriage may reflect a conflict with societal norms for gender roles, Tower said in an interview, particularly among older couples.

Wives who were cited as a confidant were less likely to die only if they did not have children. Wives who had children and were named as a source of strength were slightly more likely to die, possibly due to the burdens associated with family ties. These women tended to be involved in the lives of their children and grandchildren.

Women were equally happy and hopeful whether they had children or not, the report indicates.

"Perhaps the sheer burdens associated with presumably positive social ties took their toll through the stress associated with being relied on by loved ones," the authors suggest.

Tower and colleagues caution against generalizing the results to younger couples, since husbands and wives in the study belonged to a generation with different beliefs about marriage and the roles of men and women than younger generations may have.

"Conditions have changed during the 20th century and we are not claiming that the impact of specific configurations of marital closeness will be the same for later generations," they write.

SOURCE: Psychosomatic Medicine 2002;64:644-659.

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