Distinct Pathways Linking Spousal Support and Strain to Concerns About Aging: The Roles of Life Satisfaction and Attitudes Toward One’s Own Aging

We examined associations between spousal support and strain and concerns about aging and whether life satisfaction and attitudes toward own aging formed a serial indirect pathway linking spousal relationship quality to aging concerns. Data were drawn from 1957 participants in the 2022 Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Survey-weighted structural equation modeling was used to examine direct and indirect associations between spousal support and strain and concerns about aging through life satisfaction and attitudes toward one’s own aging, with bias-corrected confidence intervals based on 5000 bootstrap resamples. Both spousal support and spousal strain showed significant indirect associations with concerns about aging through the sequential pathway of life satisfaction and attitudes toward one’s own aging. Neither the direct associations nor the indirect pathways through either mediator alone were significant. Spousal support and strain were linked to concerns about aging through a common sequential pathway involving life satisfaction and attitudes toward one’s own aging. The findings suggest that relational experiences may be connected to aging concerns through both general evaluations of life and perceptions of one’s own aging.