Marital status and health among the elderly

Goldman, Noreen; Korenman, Sanders; Weinstein, Rachel

doi:10.1016/0277-9536(94)00281-w

Cited by 429 publications

(290 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…However, research has yielded conflicting results on the beneficial marriage effects in older women (Goldman et al 1995). The absence of institutionalised women may partly explain the result as it has hitherto been assumed that the risk of institutionalisation is related to both health and marital status, and that institutionalised woman are selectively drawn from unmarried groups (Arber and Ginn 1993;Goldman et al 1995).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The absence of institutionalised women may partly explain the result as it has hitherto been assumed that the risk of institutionalisation is related to both health and marital status, and that institutionalised woman are selectively drawn from unmarried groups (Arber and Ginn 1993;Goldman et al 1995). Other research has claimed that single old women have a lower probability of being disabled than their ever-married counterparts, lending some support to our findings (Goldman et al 1995). However, the better socioeconomic position of the never-married and their assumed higher risk of institutionalisation may have partly produced the results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Few studies have included older women in analysing the impact of marital status on health, and the results are inconclusive (Goldman et al 1995;Grundy and Holt 2000). An ongoing discussion is whether the effect of marital status on health varies over the life span.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Socioeconomic inequalities in health in older women

2008

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Socioeconomic status differentials in health are well documented. Less is known about the socioeconomic variation in health in older people, and in older women in particular. The aim of the study was to examine the association between socioeconomic status and health in older women in relation to two indicators of socioeconomic status and three measures of health, and further, to investigate whether socioeconomic differences in health increase or decrease with advancing age. Data from a cross-sectional population based health survey inviting all women C70 years were analysed; 6,380 women aged 70-103 years participated. Logistic regression was applied to analyse variation in health by socioeconomic status. Disadvantaged socioeconomic status (i.e. lower educational levels and previous manual or never been in paid work) was significantly associated with poorer health outcomes, whether measured as self-assessed health or depression. Limiting long-standing illness was significantly associated with never been in paid work. The associations were not attenuated by simultaneous adjustments for health behavioural factors, social support, and marital status. Additional adjustments for medical conditions did only alter the significant association between employment status and limiting long-standing illness. The analyses revealed that educational inequalities did not decrease with advancing age, whereas the results for employment varied across age groups. Our findings suggest an enduring relation between socioeconomic status and health in later life. The study adds to the understanding of the consistent associations between poorer health and social disadvantages at older age. We are not aware of any previous study showing the persistence of social inequalities in health upon adjustments for medical conditions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Socioeconomic inequalities in health in older women

2008

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“…Recognition of the disadvantage of the non-married relative to the married is of long standing: William Farr, one and a half centuries ago, concluded from his analysis of French vital statistics that 'Marriage is a healthy estate' (Farr 1858). Married people have more income and wealth (Arber and Ginn 1991;Hauser 1997;Disney and Johnson 2001;Waite and Lehrer 2003); they have lower mortality (Goldman et al 1995;Vallin et al 2001); report higher levels of life satisfaction (Glenn 1975;Glenn and Weaver 1979;Diener et al 2000) and are major providers of informal care. Therefore, understanding of trends in the marital status of the population is important for both social and economic reasons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marital status of people aged 75 and over in nine EU countries in the period 2000–2030

Kalogirou

Murphy

2006

Eur J Ageing

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The marital status of older people has a number of socio-economic impacts. This paper presents key findings from a set of population projections for older people by age, sex and marital status for nine European countries. We use original data for national sources but we adjust the mortality and nuptiality rates for older ages by modelling existing cohort data. We then use robust assumptions for improvements in life expectancy at birth and we use these to constrain projection models. The projections refer to the period 2000-2030 and the following countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal and The United Kingdom. Similar trends will occur in all countries; married people will account for most of the increase among those aged 75 and older by 2030, followed by divorced men and women, who exhibit the highest proportional increase.

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“…[5][6][7] Policy and health literature reviews acknowledged the need for data to support the idea that legal recognition could facilitate health benefits for lesbian and gay male couples, [2][3][4]8 yet rigorous studies had been limited due to the piecemeal, state-based legalization process in the United States and the lack of large representative surveys that include same-sex couples in survey language.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the Influence of Legally Recognized Partnerships on the Health and Well-Being of Same-Sex Couples: Utility of the California Health Interview Survey

et al. 2017

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Purpose: This study explored the utility of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) to compare health-related outcomes among gay men, lesbians, and heterosexuals who reported being in a legally recognized partnership. Methods: We regressed sexual identity and marriage/legally recognized partnership status on seven different outcomes related to health insurance coverage, medical services access and use, and general health and wellbeing using CHIS data collected between 2009 and 2013. Results: There were 1432 respondents who identified as gay, lesbian, or homosexual, and 67,746 who identified as heterosexual. The percentage of participants who reported being married/legally partnered was 54.06% for heterosexual women, 52.93% for heterosexual men, 38.83% for lesbians, and 23.56% for gay men. Legally partnered/married gay and lesbian respondents were more likely to have health insurance and use healthcare than their counterparts not in such partnerships; few trends were statistically significant. Gay men in legally recognized partnerships were more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to report continuous health insurance coverage, a usual medical care source, and at least one provider visit within the past 12 months. We found statistically significant poorer health status outcomes among lesbians in legally recognized partnerships compared to married heterosexual women. Conclusions: Lesbians in legally recognized partnerships did not fare as well as married heterosexual women. Gay men in legally recognized partnerships fared better than married heterosexual men on some measures. CHIS questionnaire structures limited our sample and analyses. We recommend that CHIS and other researchers ask partnered status-, marriage-, and sexual identity-related questions en bloc to ensure more robust representation, analyses, recommendations, and policy resolutions.

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Marital status and health among the elderly

Cited by 429 publications

References 43 publications

Socioeconomic inequalities in health in older women

Socioeconomic inequalities in health in older women

Marital status of people aged 75 and over in nine EU countries in the period 2000–2030

Measuring the Influence of Legally Recognized Partnerships on the Health and Well-Being of Same-Sex Couples: Utility of the California Health Interview Survey

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