Marital Transitions, Poverty, and Gender Differences in Mortality

Abstract

Studies of the causes of marital status differentials in mortality have generally concluded that marriage serves to protect individuals from premature death. The analyses presented in this article extend this work by examining how recent marital transitions and associated levels of economic status affect mortality. With a health production model and micro-level data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics [for the United States] sex-specific proportional hazard rate models of death are estimated as a function of recent marital transitions and poverty status as well as other sociodemographic characteristics. The results indicate that recent spells of poverty increased the hazard of dying for both men and women while recent marital status transitions altered the hazard of dying only for men. (EXCERPT)