title: Marital Status as a Moderating Factor in the Process of Disablement.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test current marital status as a moderator on the influence of depressive symptoms and chronic conditions on subsequent functional limitations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data come from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; 1998-2010). Hierarchal linear modeling models tested differences in functional limitations among a sample of 20,215 people.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At baseline, married people suffered from fewer subsequent functional limitations than the unmarried. Moreover, limited evidence suggests the influence of depressive symptoms was greater for the married than the unmarried; however, the influence of chronic conditions was consistently attenuated for married people. Accounting for differences in prior health, work, socioeconomic status, and health behaviors did not explain the moderating influence of marital status on the associations between symptoms of depression and chronic conditions with functional limitations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This research highlights the need to identify potential modifiers that may help disrupt the process of disablement among both the married and the unmarried alike.
authors.affiliation: Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA bkail@gsu.edu.
authors.forename: Ben Lennox
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Kail
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: chronic disease; depression; disability; functional limitations; marriage; moderation