If you ever thought your spouse makes your blood pressure go up, you now have a study to show it.

Sociological and epidemiological papers have long linked stress and negative marital quality to changes in mortality and blood pressure but there has not been much to show how those correlate to married couples over time. Using systolic blood pressure as a gauge, researchers assessed whether an individual’s blood pressure is influenced by their own as well as their partner’s reports of chronic stress and whether there are gender differences in these patterns.

The authors sought to show how chronic stress predicts blood pressure and how associations between chronic stress and blood pressure vary between husbands and wives. They found that negative negative relationship quality was a predictor of blood pressure and that stress and relationship quality have both direct and moderating effects on the cardiovascular system.

The study revealed that wives’ stress has important implications for husbands’ blood pressure, particularly in more negative relationships. Looking at the effects of negative relationship quality, researchers found that effects weren’t recognized when examining individuals but there were when examining interactions between both members of couple.

“We were particularly excited about these findings because they show that the effects of stress and negative relationship quality are truly dyadic in nature,” says lead author Kira S. Birditt, “An individuals' physiology is closely linked with not only his or her own experiences but the experiences and perceptions of their spouses. We were particularly fascinated that husbands were more sensitive to wives’ stress than the reverse especially given all of the work indicating that wives are more affected by the marital tie. We speculate that this finding may result from husbands greater reliance on wives for support which may not be provided when wives are more stressed.”

Citation: Kira S. Birditt, Nicky J. Newton, James A. Cranford, and Lindsay H. Ryan
Stress and Negative Relationship Quality among Older Couples: Implications for Blood Pressure
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci April 7, 2015 doi:10.1093/geronb/gbv023. Top image credit: GQ