Living arrangements and marital status: a register-based study of survival of older adults in Belgium at the beginning of the 21st century

Abstract

Being married reduces the mortality risk of older persons. More generally, living arrangements that include co-residence with a source of support and a close care-giver are associated with a lower mortality risk. We build a detailed typology of private and collective living arrangements, including marital status, and check its association with mortality risks, controlling for health status. Using administrative data from the population register, we identify the living arrangement of all individuals aged 65 years and over living in Belgium as at 1 January 2002, and their survival during the year 2002. Data on health status are extracted from the 2001 census. We use binary logistic regression with the probability to die as outcome and living arrangement, health, age and gender as covariates. Our results show that mortality is more closely associated with actual living arrangements than with marital status. This association is age and gender-specific and remains even at very old ages. Living with a spouse is confirmed to be beneficial for survival but in older age living alone becomes more favourable. Of all living arrangements, older persons living in religious communities experience the lowest mortality risk whereas those living in nursing homes experience the highest risk.

Receipt of emotional support among rural South African adults

“…Marriage facilitates greater access to social support, which is associated with better health outcomes for married people relative to other marital statuses (Waite and Gallagher, 2001; Carr and Bodnar-Deren, 2009; Ng et al ., 2010; Herm et al ., 2016). A person who is married or co-habiting has a partner from whom he or she can request emotional support, and from whom this kind of support is socially expected as part of spousal role obligations (Cornwell, 2012).…”

Trends in living arrangements and their impact on the mortality of older adults: Belgium 1991‒2012

“…Accordingly, the increase in persons living with a spouse or partner is associated with a decrease in total mortality. However, all marriages and partnerships end with the death of a spouse or partner, or divorce, which inevitably changes the LA of the survivor, and most LAs after bereavement or divorce are associated with a higher mortality risk (Herm, Anson, and Poulain 2016). A crucial question concerns the distribution of the last LA before death among those who no longer have a spouse or partner.…”

Widowhood and mortality risk of older people in rural China: do gender and living arrangement make a difference?

“…Some studies suggested that living alone had a higher death risk (Lund et al, 2002;Pimouguet et al, 2016). However, a protective effect of living alone on mortality risk among elders was seen in other studies (Walter-Ginzburg et al, 2002;Herm et al, 2016). Studies examining the association of living arrangement and death risk in China found that living with adult children increased mortality risk, especially among those elders with cardiovascular diseases (Li et al, 2009;Liu et al, 2015).…”