Marital Status, Living Arrangements and Mortality at Older Ages in Chile, 2004–2016

Abstract

The risk of mortality in old age is associated with marital status and living arrangements. There is still little knowledge about this in Latin America. Our objectives are to examine the association between marital status, living arrangements and mortality of older adults (>60 years) in Chile, and to test whether this association varies when demographic, socioeconomic and health factors are included. We used data from the Social Protection Survey, and mortality data were linked to the Civil Registry. We estimate a series of Poisson regression models. Our results show a clear association between marriage and longevity, since even controlling for demographic, socioeconomic and health factors, we found that separated or divorced, widowed, and unmarried people showed higher relative mortality compared to married people (IRR1.24, IRR1.33, IRR1.35, respectively). Considering only living arrangements, the results show that living alone, alone with children, with children and other relatives or in other arrangements is associated with higher mortality (IRR1.22, IRR1.27, IRR1.35, IRR1.35, respectively) compared to those living with their partners and children. However, considering marital status and living arrangements together, we find that survival among older adults was strongly associated with marital status. Marital status continues to be a direct measure of living arrangements among older adults in Chile.

Examining the impact of Co-residence with a daughter-in-law on older adult health in China: Evidence from a frailty index-based study

“…Global research has explored the influence of living arrangements on multiple dimensions of individual health, encompassing mortality risk ( Sandoval & Alvear Portaccio, 2022 ), subjective well-being ( Hwang & Sim, 2021 ), dementia ( Cantu et al, 2022 ; Roystonn et al, 2020 ), feelings of loneliness ( Wei et al, 2022 ), mental health ( Hamid et al, 2021 ), and daily living self-sufficiency ( Melchiorre et al, 2021 ). As an example, research conducted in South Korea has substantiated that independent of physical frailty conditions, solitary eating, and living constitute significant risk factors for the emergence of depressive symptoms among older adults residing in communities ( Moon et al, 2022 ).…”

Smaller household size and higher prevalence of serious psychological distress in younger people and never-married people: a nationwide cross-sectional survey in Japan

“…These previous studies suggest that men may derive more mental health benefits from large households than women. In addition, the effects of living alone or living with others on mental health may differ depending on age and marital status as well as gender (6,9,(23)(24)(25). However, to our knowledge, no studies have examined demographic differences in an association between household size and mental health.…”