Tuesday, 19 March, 2024
HomeEditor's PickWhen older couples are spatially close their heart rates synchronise

When older couples are spatially close their heart rates synchronise

When older couples are in close proximity, their heart rates synchronise in complex patterns of interaction, found a study from the University of Illinois that examines relationship dynamics.

As couples grow old together, their interdependence heightens. Often, they become each other's primary source of physical and emotional support. Long-term marriages have a profound impact on health and well-being, but benefits depend on relationship quality.

“Relationship researchers typically ask people how they're doing and assume they can recall properly and give meaningful answers. But as couples age and have been together for a long time, they laugh when we ask them how satisfied or how committed they are. When they have been married for 30 or 40 years, they feel that indicates commitment in itself," says Brian Ogolsky, associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Illinois and lead author on the study.

“We were looking for more objective ways to measure relationship dynamics, and we know that being around other people has psychological benefits. So, physical proximity seemed liked a strong candidate.”

But just being close to another person isn’t always beneficial; it depends on the nature of the interaction, Ogolsky points out. Closeness in the context of a conflict is very different from closeness in the context of a loving interaction. Similarly, changes in heart rate can be positive or negative.

“We're not focusing on cause and effect, but on co-regulation, which happens when heart rates move in a synchronous pattern. That is, when the partners are close, their heart rate patterns indicate an interaction that is collectively meaningful in some way.”

The study included 10 heterosexual, married couples, ages 64 to 88, who had been in their relationships from 14 to 65 years. The researchers followed the couples for two weeks, continuously tracking their heart rates and their proximity to each other when at home.

Participants wore a Fitbit measuring their heart rate. They also wore a small proximity-sensing device. The researchers installed sensors in the home that allowed them to monitor the devices and observe in real time how physically close the spouses were to each other. They could then correlate all three measures, each partner’s heart rate and the couple’s proximity, in real time.

The researchers called the couples in the morning to remind them to put on the Fitbit and tracking device, and again in the evening for a survey about their health and well-being as well as their relationship dynamics throughout the day.

“Our first step was to see if heart rate and proximity are correlated over time. We looked at the husband’s heart rate with proximity, the wife’s heart rate with proximity, and the two heart rates with each other,” Ogolsky says.

“We also wanted to know if all three time-series worked together to give us unique information. Can we use any of them to predict the others? And the answer is yes. All three time-series need to be included for us to be able to predict any one of them well.”

The findings indicated a lead-lag relationship in heart rate synchronisation, where one partner leads and the other follows. Sometimes the wife’s heart rate would lead the change and other times the husband’s heart rate would change and the wife’s would follow.

“This suggests a delicate balance. When one partner triggers the other partner, they start a unique couple-level dance that affects their physiology and their patterns throughout the day,” Ogolsky said.

Because of the small number of participants, the study did not include comparisons between couples. But even within the couples, no clear patterns emerged.

“We found each day is a unique context that changes depending on circumstances. Couple interactions, their attitudes, behaviours, whether they’re close to each other or far away, change all the time. Even across 14 days, couples are not consistent enough in these kinds of objective patterns to allow us to make any couple-level conclusions. We can make only make day-level predictions.”

Ogolsky notes this finding is an important contribution to relationship research, which usually relies on drawing conclusions across couples.

“If we really want to understand the unique patterns of interaction that happen within couples, we need to start focusing our attention on micro processes; the small interaction patterns that accumulate over a day. Those tell us about the nature of how couples’ interactions play out from moment to moment.”

Study details

Spatial proximity as a behavioural marker of relationship dynamics in older adult couples

Brian Ogolsky, Shannon Mejia, Alexandra Chronopoulou, Kiersten Dobson, Christopher Maniotes, TeKisha Rice, Yifan Hu, Jaclyn Theisen, Carolina Carvalho Manhães Leite.

Published in Journal of Social and Personal Relationships on 11 October 2021

Abstract

Background
Close relationships in older adulthood are characterised by heightened interdependence, which has implications for health and well-being as partners age together.

Purpose
We describe a novel method that uses partners’ spatial proximity to examine the dynamics of interpersonal relationships.

Research Design
In a sample of 10 older adult couples over a 14-day study period, we linked a continuous measure of partners’ spatial proximity with partners’ heart rates—a physiological marker of arousal.

Results
Cross-correlations showed that proximity was consistently associated with each partner’s heart rate, but the magnitude and sequence of the correlation varied from day-to-day, suggesting that the coupling of proximity and heart rate is a dynamic of the interaction, rather than the couple. Additionally, our predictive model showed that all three time-series were necessary for optimal prediction, demonstrating that proximity and partners’ heart rates are dynamically intertwined.

Conclusion
Together, these results demonstrate meaningful and predictable variation in couple dynamics at the momentary level that consists of a complex association between physiological and spatial proximity.

 

JSPR article abstract – Spatial proximity as a behavioral marker of relationship dynamics in older adult couples (Open access)

 

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