Gendered Marital Power, Depression, and Cognition Among Older Adults in Mexico

Objectives: As Mexico rapidly ages, population-level cognitive issues and Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia (AD/ADRD) are projected to increase. Limited social welfare positions family members-especially spouses- as the main support resource. While past research suggests marital power imbalances relate with increased depression among Mexican older adults, how marital power imbalance relates with cognition and gender differences therein remains understudied. Accordingly, we investigate how perceived marital power relates with cognitive ability with attention to depression and gender.

Methods: We use the 2012, 2015, and 2018 (n = 2,643 heterosexual dyads) waves of the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS) and Actor Partner Interdependence Models (APIM). The APIM allows the cognitive function of each partner to be predicted by their own (actor effects) and partner's (partner effects) perceived marital power imbalance, evaluates gender differences, and the mediating role of depression.

Results: Own reports of lower baseline marital power were directly negatively associated with subsequent cognition only among husbands. Partners' baseline reports of marital power showed mixed direct associations with future cognition: husbands' higher marital power negatively related with wives' cognition whereas wives' lower marital power positively related with husbands' cognition. Wives' marital power imbalance predicted higher depression in each partner, and both own and partner's depression related with lower cognition, regardless of gender, suggesting that wives' marital power imbalance impacts cognition indirectly through depression.

Discussion: Our findings suggest that gendered marital power relations is a novel area for future research in the context of Mexico's aging population, enduring marriages, and entrenched patriarchal structures.