(PS8-7) Couple Relationship Quality Moderates the Longitudinal Association Between Psychological Distress and Life Satisfaction Among Adults at Midlife

Life satisfaction is an important correlate of physical and psychological health as people age (Kim et al., 2021; Strine et al., 2008) but can be compromised by psychological distress (Vázquez et al., 2015). Better understanding of intimate relationship risk and protective factors that might mitigate the link between psychological distress and lower life satisfaction may help to promote healthy aging. This study investigated the moderating roles of romantic relationship strain and support in the 10-year prospective associations between psychological distress and life satisfaction in a large epidemiological sample consisting of N = 3,918 partnered adult participants (M_Age = 54.23, SD_Age = 12.03; 51.5% male) from the Midlife in the United States study. Participants completed assessments of life satisfaction at Time 1 and Time 2, 10 years later. They also completed assessments of psychological distress, couple relationship strain, and couple relationship support at Time 1. Longitudinal models controlling for Time 1 life satisfaction demonstrated moderation by both couple relationship strain (B = -0.14, p </em>= .031) and support (B = 0.24, p </em>= .001). Specifically, there was a significant negative association between psychological distress and life satisfaction a decade later at higher levels of Time 1 couple relationship strain (b = -0.30, p </em>< .001) but not at lower levels of relationship strain (b = -0.13, p </em>= .09). There was also a significant negative association between psychological distress and life satisfaction a decade later at lower levels of Time 1 couple relationship support (b = -0.34, p </em>< .001) but not at higher levels of relationship support (b = -0.09, p </em>= .19). Findings suggest that better couple relationship quality is protective for life satisfaction among adults experiencing psychological distress at midlife. Considering the interpersonal communities in which individuals are embedded and employing prevention and intervention strategies to decrease couple relationship strain and promote relationship support may help promote life satisfaction as individuals age.