IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v60y2005i11p2537-2548.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of own and spouse's urinary incontinence on depressive symptoms

Author

Listed:
  • Fultz, Nancy H.
  • Rahrig Jenkins, Kristi
  • Østbye, Truls
  • Taylor, Donald Jr.
  • Kabeto, Mohammed U.
  • Langa, Kenneth M.

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of own and spouse's urinary incontinence on depressive symptoms. Attention was paid to the possibility that gender and caregiving might be important factors in understanding significant effects. We used negative binomial regression to analyze survey data for 9974 middle-aged and older respondents to the Health and Retirement Study in the USA. Results supported the hypothesis that the respondents' own urinary incontinence was associated with depressive symptoms (unadj. IRR=1.73, 95% CIs=1.53, 1.95 for men; unadj. IRR=1.50, 95% CIs=1.38, 1.63 for women). Controlling sociodemographic and health variables reduced this relationship, but it remained statistically significant for both men and women. Having an incontinent wife put men at greater risk for depressive symptoms (unadj. IRR=1.13, 95% CIs=1.02, 1.25), although this relation became nonsignificant with the addition of control variables. No relation between women's depressive symptoms and husbands' (in)continence status was found. Caregiving was not a significant variable in the adjusted analyses, but spouses' depressive symptoms emerged as a significant predictor of the respondents' own depressive symptoms. Health care providers must be sensitive to the emotional impact of urinary incontinence. Our findings also suggest the importance of considering the patient's mental health within a wider context, particularly including the physical and mental health of the patient's spouse.

Suggested Citation

  • Fultz, Nancy H. & Rahrig Jenkins, Kristi & Østbye, Truls & Taylor, Donald Jr. & Kabeto, Mohammed U. & Langa, Kenneth M., 2005. "The impact of own and spouse's urinary incontinence on depressive symptoms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(11), pages 2537-2548, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:60:y:2005:i:11:p:2537-2548
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(04)00564-7
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aloen L. Townsend & Baila Miller & Shenyang Guo, 2001. "Depressive Symptomatology in Middle-Aged and Older Married Couples," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 56(6), pages 352-364.
    2. Monden, Christiaan W. S. & van Lenthe, Frank & De Graaf, Nan Dirk & Kraaykamp, Gerbert, 2003. "Partner's and own education: does who you live with matter for self-assessed health, smoking and excessive alcohol consumption?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(10), pages 1901-1912, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brittain, Katherine R. & Shaw, Chris, 2007. "The social consequences of living with and dealing with incontinence--A carers perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(6), pages 1274-1283, September.
    2. Muramatsu, Naoko & Yin, Hongjun & Hedeker, Donald, 2010. "Functional declines, social support, and mental health in the elderly: Does living in a state supportive of home and community-based services make a difference?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1050-1058, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christopher Wildeman & Kristin Turney & Youngmin Yi, 2016. "Paternal Incarceration and Family Functioning," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 665(1), pages 80-97, May.
    2. Zang, Emma & Zheng, Hui, 2018. "Does the sex ratio at sexual maturity affect men's later-life mortality risks? Evidence from historical China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 61-69.
    3. Jenny Torssander, 2013. "From Child to Parent? The Significance of Children’s Education for Their Parents’ Longevity," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(2), pages 637-659, April.
    4. Lei Jin & Felix Elwert & Jeremy Freese & Nicholas Christakis, 2010. "Preliminary evidence regarding the hypothesis that the sex ratio at sexual maturity may affect longevity in men," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(3), pages 579-586, August.
    5. Meyler, Deanna & Stimpson, Jim P. & Peek, M. Kristen, 2007. "Health concordance within couples: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(11), pages 2297-2310, June.
    6. Hong Zou & Qianqian Xiong & Hongwei Xu, 2020. "Does Subjective Social Status Predict Self-Rated Health in Chinese Adults and Why?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 443-471, November.
    7. Shuai Chen & Jan C. Ours, 2018. "Subjective Well-being and Partnership Dynamics: Are Same-Sex Relationships Different?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2299-2320, December.
    8. Sara Pinillos-Franco & Carmen García-Prieto, 2017. "The gender gap in self-rated health and education in Spain. A multilevel analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(12), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Elisabetta Lazzaro & Carlofilippo Frateschi, 2008. "Attendance to cultural events and spousal influences: the Italian case," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0084, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    10. Adjiwanou, Vissého & Bougma, Moussa & LeGrand, Thomas, 2018. "The effect of partners' education on women's reproductive and maternal health in developing countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 104-115.
    11. Kravdal, Øystein, 2008. "A broader perspective on education and mortality: Are we influenced by other people's education?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 620-636, February.
    12. Torssander, Jenny, 2014. "Adult children's socioeconomic positions and their parents' mortality: A comparison of education, occupational class, and income," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 148-156.
    13. Fletcher Jason, 2009. "All in the Family: Mental Health Spillover Effects between Working Spouses," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, February.
    14. Chen, Gang & Olsen, Jan Abel & Lamu, Admassu N., 2024. "The influence of parents' and partner's education on own health behaviours," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 343(C).
    15. SangNam Ahn & Seonghoon Kim & Hongmei Zhang, 2016. "Changes in Depressive Symptoms among Older Adults with Multiple Chronic Conditions: Role of Positive and Negative Social Support," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    16. Bongoh Kye & Erika Arenas & Graciela Teruel & Luis Rubalcava, 2014. "Education, Elderly Health, and Differential Population Aging in South Korea: A Demographic Approach," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 30(26), pages 753-794.
    17. Jordi Gumà & Jeroen Spijker, 2020. "Until Death Do Us Part. The Influence of Own and Partner’s Socioeconomic Status on the Health of Spanish Middle-Aged Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-11, June.
    18. Claussen, Bjorgulf & Smits, Jeroen & Naess, Oyvind & Davey Smith, George, 2005. "Intragenerational mobility and mortality in Oslo: Social selection versus social causation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(12), pages 2513-2520, December.
    19. Lamu, Admassu N. & Chen, Gang & Olsen, Jan Abel, 2023. "Amplified disparities: The association between spousal education and own health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    20. Susan L. Averett & Cynthia Bansak & Julie K. Smith, 2021. "Behind Every High Earning Man is a Conscientious Woman: The Impact of Spousal Personality on Earnings and Marriage," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 29-46, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:60:y:2005:i:11:p:2537-2548. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.