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Published on: September 27, 2024

The quality of spouses' social networks contributes to each other's cardiovascular risk

Bert N Uchino1, Timothy W Smith, McKenzie Carlisle

  • 1Department of Psychology and Health Psychology Program, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America.

Plos One
|August 31, 2013
PubMed

Insights

A partner's social network quality impacts cardiovascular risk. Supportive ties lower blood pressure, while negative or ambivalent ties increase it, affecting individual and couple cardiovascular health.

Area of Science:

  • Social psychology
  • Cardiovascular health
  • Relationship science

Background:

  • One's own social relationships are linked to cardiovascular risk.
  • The influence of a partner's social network quality on cardiovascular health remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if a partner's social network quality affects an individual's ambulatory blood pressure (ABP).

Main Methods:

  • Assessed social network quality (supportive, aversive, ambivalent ties) in 94 couples.
  • Employed actor-partner analyses to distinguish individual and partner influences on ABP.

Main Results:

  • Higher partner supportive ties correlated with lower individual ABP.
  • Higher partner aversive and ambivalent ties correlated with higher individual ABP.
  • Combined couple network quality was linked to higher ABP under specific low-supportive or high-aversive/ambivalent conditions.

Conclusions:

  • Partner's social ties significantly influence individual cardiovascular risk.
  • Social networks of close partners represent potential cardiovascular resources or strains.
Abstract

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