Table 2.

Relative risks of 8-year all-cause mortality for the joint exposure of purpose in life and gender (N = 13,159).^a,b,c,d

	Sense of purpose in Lifeb
Gender	Low		Medium-low		Medium-high		High
	N Died/alive	RR (95% CI)	N Died/alive	RR (95% CI)	N Died/alive	RR (95% CI)	N Died/alive	RR (95% CI)
Men	586/834	1.0	392/945	0.92 (0.80, 1.04) p = 0.18	368/1098	0.88 (0.77, 1.01) p = 0.06	246/1026	0.80 (0.69, 0.93) p < 0.01
Women	673/1352	0.76 (0.68, 0.86) p < 0.01	409/1421	0.65 (0.57, 0.74) p < 0.01	356/1643	0.61 (0.53, 0.70) p < 0.01	223/1587	0.50 (0.43, 0.59) p < 0.01
	Additive and multiplicative effect modification
	Low		Medium-low Additive c	Multiplicative d	Medium-high Additive	Multiplicative	High Additive	Multiplicative
Men	Reference		Reference	Reference	Reference	Reference	Reference	Reference
Women	Reference		−0.03 (−0.18, 0.12) p = 0.73	0.93 (0.78, 1.11) p = 0.45	−0.04 (−0.19, 0.11) p = 0.62	0.90 (0.75, 1.08) p = 0.27	−0.06 (−0.22, 0.10) p = 0.45	0.82 (0.66, 1.02) p = 0.07

^aRisk ratios were adjusted for: Age, race/ethnicity, marital status, education, household income, wealth, health insurance, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, lung disease, arthritis, and depression using Poisson regression.

^bPurpose in life was assessed using the purpose in life subscale of the Ryff psychological well-being scales. Purpose in life quartiles: Low: 1.00–3.86; medium-low: 3.87–4.57; medium-high: 4.58–5.29; high: 5.30–6.00.

^cEffect modification on additive scale: Relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI; standard errors were calculated by using the delta method).

^dEffect modification on multiplicative scale: Ratio of risk ratio (RRR).