Marital Status, Marital Transitions, and Health: A Gendered Life Course Perspective

TLDR

The study examines how marital status and transitions affect later self‑assessed physical health in men and women from a life‑course perspective. Using longitudinal data on marital status changes and self‑rated health, the authors assess the impact of these transitions on subsequent health outcomes. They find that marital dissolution strains drive health disparities more than marital benefits, disproportionately harming men’s self‑assessed health, while life‑course stage and gender jointly moderate these effects.

Abstract

We work from a life course perspective to assess the impact of marital status and marital transitions on subsequent changes in the self-assessed physical health of men and women. Our results suggest three central conclusions regarding the association of marital status and marital transitions with self-assessed health. First, marital status differences in health appear to reflect the strains of marital dissolution more than they reflect any benefits of marriage. Second, the strains of marital dissolution undermine the self-assessed health of men but not women. Finally, life course stage is as important as gender in moderating the effects of marital status and marital transitions on health.