Closeness and Well-Being in Older Adulthood: A Dyadic Daily Diary Study

Relationships are central to well-being. Relationship closeness, which measures interdependence, remains underexplored in older adult couples managing chronic health conditions. In a sample of 146 distinguishable dyads consisting of individuals with chronic back pain (ICBPs) and their spouses, the current study explored the role of own and partner closeness for daily well-being. Additionally, to contextualize ICBPs’ daily experiences, their daily symptoms were assessed as a moderator for these links. Couples completed up to 30 days of end-of-day diaries reporting closeness, affect, and their physical symptoms. Using multilevel models guided by the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model, we found that on days when both ICBPs and spouses reported greater closeness, they experienced higher positive affect and lower negative affect (actor effects). Similarly, partners’ closeness was associated with individuals’ own higher positive and lower negative affect (partner effects) in both ICBPs and spouses. Notably, spouses’ daily affect was more strongly associated with ICBPs’ closeness than their own, suggesting spouses’ heightened susceptibility to ICBPs’ experiences. Contrary to hypotheses, ICBPs’ daily symptoms did not moderate closeness–affect associations for themselves; however, ICBPs’ symptoms moderated partner effects for spouses’ negative affect. Simple slopes analyses revealed that ICBPs’ closeness was beneficial (i.e., decreased negative affect) for spouses across low, average, and high-symptom days; the strength of these associations decreased as symptom levels increased, but remained significant. Findings underscore the importance of dyadic perspectives in understanding well-being in older couples coping with chronic illness.