Social support sources matter: Increased cellular aging among adults with unsupportive spouses

Social support is important for mental and physical health but it is unclear whether the health benefits of support are dependent upon who provides it. Spousal support, as compared to support from other sources, represents a unique and potent determinant of psychological well-being. However, we do not know whether spousal support is similarly important for physical health. Using a probability sample of US adults we examined married participants 60 years of age or over who had social support (n = 1430) but who did (n = 1212) or did not (n = 218) nominate their spouse as a support source. Physical health was defined by leukocyte telomere length. Telomeres represent a biological marker of cellular aging, with telomere length inversely associated with chronological age and is independently associated with clinical endpoints such as incident coronary heart disease. Despite having social support in general, participants who lacked spousal support had shorter telomeres relative to those with spousal support. This association was independent of demographic variables, 10-year coronary heart disease risk scores (quantified with self-reported smoking and measured diabetes, blood pressure, & cholesterol) diagnosed chronic disease and other social relationship resources including the number of support sources, the number of friends and the availability of tangible support (b = 0.05, 95% CI 0.004-0.095, p < 0.05). Thus, this association does not appear to be explained by CHD risk or a general deficit in social relationships. Our findings suggest that, for this biomarker of physical health, spousal support represents a unique and salutary support domain that is not equivalent to other support sources.