Functional limitations and depressive symptoms: a longitudinal analysis of older Mexican American couples.
OBJECTIVE
This study extends previous work on longitudinal patterns of spousal associations between functional impairments and psychological well-being in older couples in 3 important ways: By examining Mexican Americans, by considering a broader range of functional limitations, and by assessing the role of health status, social integration, and socioeconomic resources in these associations.


METHODS
Drawing on data from 6 waves of the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (1993-2007), we employed growth curve models to investigate the implications of the spouse's functional limitations for the respondent's age trajectories of depressive symptoms in older Mexican American couples. Models were run separately for husbands and wives.


RESULTS
The spouse's functional limitations were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms in the respondent. Personal resources can both ameliorate and intensify the adverse implications of the spouse's functional limitations for the respondent's depressive symptomatology. The interplay among these factors can vary by gender and the type of the spouse's functional impairment.


CONCLUSIONS
Future studies would benefit by examining caregiving patterns in older couples, by distinguishing between different dimensions of social support available to them, and by considering changes in couples' marital quality and social ties over time.
Department of Sociology, University of Houston, Texas. mamonser@Central.uh.edu.
Maria A
MA
Monserud
Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston.
M Kristen
MK
Peek
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000208:ethnology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D018454:Spouses / Q000208:ethnology*; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology
Couples; Depressive symptoms; Functional limitations; Growth curve models; Mexican Americans; Older adults.