I. Waldron et al., MARITAL-STATUS EFFECTS ON HEALTH - ARE THERE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NEVER MARRIED-WOMEN AND DIVORCED AND SEPARATED WOMEN, Social science & medicine, 45(9), 1997, pp. 1387-1397
Citations number
26
Categorie Soggetti
Social Sciences, Biomedical","Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath
To test whether the effects of marital status on health differ between
never married women and divorced and separated women, this study util
izes prospective panel data for a large national sample of non-institu
tionalized young women in the U.S. (the National Longitudinal Surveys
of Young Women). The women were aged 24-34 at the beginning of two suc
cessive five-year follow-up intervals (1978-1983 and 1983-1988). The h
ealth effects of marital status were evaluated in regressions which as
sessed the relationships between initial marital status and subsequent
health trends in each follow-up interval. In the first follow-up inte
rval, never married women tended to have worse health trends than divo
rced and separated women for physical impairments and for overall heal
th problems. However, there were no differences between never married
women and divorced and separated women in health trends for psychosoma
tic symptoms in either follow-up interval or for any health measure in
the second follow-up interval. Our analyses of cross-sectional data s
howed few significant differences in health between never married wome
n and divorced and separated women. Taken together, the evidence from
our study and previous studies suggests that differences between never
married women and divorced and separated women may vary by age and/or
cohort. Evidence for the 1970s and 1980s suggests that, among older w
omen, divorced and separated women may have experienced more harmful h
ealth effects than never married women; however, among younger women,
this difference may have been absent or possibly reversed. (C) 1997 El
sevier Science Ltd.