title: Marital-role quality and stress-related psychobiological indicators.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The quality of one's marital relationship is gaining recognition as a potential stressor associated with negative health outcomes.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In this study, we estimated the relationship between marital-role quality and three psychobiological stress indicators (self-reported stress, cortisol levels, and ambulatory blood pressure).
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 105 middle-age adults (67 men, 38 women) who had previously taken part in the Whitehall psychobiology study. Ambulatory monitoring and saliva sampling were carried out over a working day, and marital relationships were assessed with the Marital/Partner Role Quality scales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that marital-role concerns (but not marital-role rewards) were related to all three psychobiological stress indicators; results did not vary by gender. Specifically, participants with more marital concerns reported greater stress throughout the day (p=.014), showed an attenuated cortisol increase following waking (p=.042) and a flatter cortisol slope over the day (p=.010), and had elevated ambulatory diastolic blood pressure over the middle of the workday (p=.004), with a similar trend in systolic pressure (p=.069).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that in addition to the carryover of work stress into domestic life that has been evident for many years, there are also influences of domestic strain on biological function over the working day and evening. Previous research suggests that a possible mechanism linking troubled marriages to health outcomes is depressed immune functioning. This study suggests a second mechanism-poorer stress-related biological response.
authors.affiliation: Brandeis University, MA, USA. rbarnett@brandeis.edu
authors.forename: Rosalind Chait
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Barnett
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steptoe
authors.forename: Karen C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Gareis
mesh_terms: D001794:Blood Pressure; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010507:Periodicity; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D017132:Workplace
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone