Study: Patterns of alcohol use over time among older different-sex couples: Implications for health (DOI:10.15288/jsad.24-00013)
Older couples may want to take a closer look at their drinking habits together.
While most research focuses on how your drinking affects your health, a University of Michigan study shows that a partner's drinking habits matter, too. It underscores that it's not just how much alcohol is consumed, but how couples drink-similarly or differently-that can shape health outcomes over time.
The study, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, finds that although older different-sex couples who both consume light to moderate amounts of alcohol may initially report better self-rated health, they could face sharper declines in health over time. Light drinking is defined as about 1 drink per day and moderate drinking is roughly 2 drinks daily.
"This research shows that health is affected by both the individual and their partner's drinking," said lead author Angela Turkelson of the U-M Institute for Social Research. "We found that couples who both drank moderately-around two drinks per day-initially rated their health highly. But over time, their health declined to levels similar to couples with mismatched drinking patterns or those who rarely drank."
Among the findings, women in couples with mismatched drinking habits-where one partner, typically the husband, drinks more than the other-reported more chronic health issues than women in couples who both drank lightly or moderately. In particular, wives who drank lightly with husbands who also drank lightly experienced better health compared to those whose husbands drank heavily. Interestingly, this pattern wasn't seen in men.
Husbands in mismatched couples did not report more chronic health problems compared to those in couples with similar light or moderate drinking habits.
Over the course of 24 years, researchers followed nearly 10,000 couples ages 50 and older who were either married or living together as partners. They found that these couples often develop steady drinking habits-and those habits can affect their health in different ways.
"Spouses can have a significant influence on each other's habits and health over time, especially as they age together and shared routines can affect both partners' well-being," said co-author Kira Birditt, research professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research's Survey Research Center.
The implications of the study are significant, suggesting that doctors and health providers should provide couples with guidance tailored to their age and situation, the researchers say. Knowing whether couples have similar or different drinking habits can help professionals provide more effective support for both their relationships and their long-term health.
"Policymakers should take into account the complexity of how couples drink together-and how these patterns differently affect health outcomes," Turkelson said. "Future guidelines should encourage regular monitoring of both individual and shared drinking habits, as well as their changing impact on health over time."
The researchers plan to examine how factors such as socioeconomic status and relationship quality influence couples' drinking patterns. They also aim to explore whether drinking together or separately-at home or in social settings-affects health and relationship outcomes. Their insights may help explain why particular patterns are more harmful than others.
