Marital Pair Anger-Coping Types May Act as an Entity to Affect Mortality: Preliminary Findings from a Prospective Study (Tecumseh, Michigan, 1971–1988)

The relationship between four anger-coping marital pair types and all-cause mortality was examined with a representative random sample in the community of Tecumseh, Michigan, in a longitudinal analysis (1971–1988) using 192 married pairs. Each spouse (age 35–69) in a married pair was independently classified as an expressive (anger out) or suppressive (anger in) anger-coping type; then four anger-coping pair types were tested for mortality risk, adjusted for major health risk factors. When both spouses were anger suppressors (n = 26 pairs; 13 deaths), death was 2 times more likely than in all Other Types (p < .05); significantly more pairs of “Both Spouses Suppress” occurred where both died than in Other Types. A spouse interaction effect (p = .06) occurred among Both Spouses Suppress Type but not in Other Types.