Self-Regulation, Marital Climate, and Emotional Well-Being among Japanese Older Couples

Although the association of self-regulation and well-being are well researched, few studies have addressed the dynamic mechanism of this relationship within married couples. This study examined the relationships of self-regulation and marital climate with the emotional well-being of both actors and partners among older Japanese couples. Through a mail survey, 498 older couples with husbands (aged in their 70s) and their wives (aged 60 or over) responded to a questionnaire comprising measures of selective optimization with compensation (SOC), tenacious goal pursuit and flexible goal adjustment, marital climate, and emotional well-being. The results of hierarchical linear modeling showed that positive interpretation was associated with not only their own lower depressive symptomatology and higher life satisfaction but also those of their partners. Furthermore, tenacious goal pursuit was beneficially associated with older adults' life satisfaction. Marital climate was positively related to emotional well-being and the association was larger among wives than among husbands. However, contrary to expectations, use of an optimization strategy was negatively linked to partners' life satisfaction, but not actors'. Besides confirming the apparent benefits of self-regulation for actors' well-being, self-regulation could be beneficially or detrimentally related to partners' well-being. To be happy in old age, it seems more important for individuals to care for their spouses and create a favorable marital climate than to pursue their own goals exclusively. There remains, however, a need to simultaneously examine the associations of both intrapersonal (self) and interpersonal (collective) regulatory processes with well-being.