Table 1. Baseline Characteristics and Scores on Key Variables for Wives and Husbands.

	Wives		Husbands
Characteristic	M	SD	M	SD
Age	61.93	8.46	65.23	8.11
Education in years	13.37	2.47	13.55	2.84
Depressive symptomsa	1.01	1.59	0.80	1.36
Medical morbidityb	1.45	1.10	1.51	1.15
Health-related self-efficacyc	7.66	2.07	7.46	2.02
Body mass index	28.28	6.18	28.65	4.79
Drinks per week	1.77	3.82	3.75	7.01
Moderate physical activityd	3.37	1.22	3.57	1.06
Vigorous physical activitye	2.09	1.36	2.40	1.38
Negative marital qualityf	1.95	0.63	1.89	0.58
Number of living children	3.16	1.92	3.16	1.92
	Proportions
Minority statusg	.10		.10
Works for pay	.48		.52
Smoking statush	.09		.09
Disability statusi	.07		.07
Number of chronic conditions
None	.21		.21
One	.34		.32
Two	.29		.28
Three	.12		.14
Four	.03		.04
Five	.004		.01
Six	.002		.000

Note.

^aSum of eight symptoms.

^bSelf-reported number of six chronic health conditions.

^cOne item assessing control over one's health from 0 (no control at all) to 10 (very much control).

^dFrequency of activities (e.g., brisk walking) from 0 (hardly ever or never) to 4 (more than once a week).

^eFrequency of activities (e.g., running) from 0 (hardly ever or never) to 4 (more than once a week).

^fMean of four items (critical, demanding, lets you down, gets on your nerves).

^g1 = racial/ethnic minority, -1 = non-Hispanic White.

^h1 = currently smokes, -1 = does not currently smoke.

ⁱ1 = has difficulty with one or more ADLs, -1 = does not have difficulty with ADLs.

N = 992 married couples.