Perceived stress and marital quality of chinese older couples: communication as an effective protective factor

Objectives: This study examined the applicability of Bodenmann’s stress model in the context of collectivist culture among Chinese older couples. Method: Utilizing an actor-partner interdependence model, the moderating effect of marital communication between perceived stress and marital quality was tested using dyadic data from 95 Chinese older couples (67.22 ± 4.98 for husbands; 66.57 ± 4.89 for wives). Results: The study found no crossover effect on perceived stress in older couples after controlling for the couple’s annual income. Marital quality of older couples was significantly negatively associated with their own perceived stress, but not with their spouse’s perceived stress. In addition, the marital communication of older couples moderated the influence of stress on marital quality, and both actor and partner effects were established. Specifically, compared to low communication scores, high communication scores alleviated the negative impact of stress on marital quality of older couples. Discussion: Research indicated that couple communication training based on stress coping could be used to improve the quality of marriages in later life.