Marital quality, depressive symptoms, and the metabolic syndrome: a couples structural model

Abstract

The indirect association of marital quality with metabolic syndrome (MetS) through depressive symptoms was examined in 301 middle-aged and older couples. MetS components (i.e., waist circumference, blood pressure, blood draws to assess triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, and fasting glucose) were assessed following a 12-h fast, and were treated as a continuous latent variable for analyses. In structural equation modeling of this indirect effect, overall model fit was good, and husbands’ and wives’ marital quality was associated with MetS only through depressive symptoms. Joint tests of the parameters indicated that gender did not moderate this association. The best fitting, most parsimonious model, after nested model comparisons, was one in which husbands’ and wives’ indirect paths were equated. Overall, marital quality was related to MetS through its relationship to depressive symptoms for men and women. Associations of marital quality and depression with MetS may overlap, and couple-based approaches to psychosocial risk factors for cardiovascular disease may be useful in future research.