MARITAL-STATUS EFFECTS ON HEALTH - ARE THERE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NEVER MARRIED-WOMEN AND DIVORCED AND SEPARATED WOMEN

Citation
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
Journal title
ISSN journal
02779536
Volume
45
Issue
9
Year of publication
1997
Pages
1387 - 1397
Database
ISI
SICI code
0277-9536(1997)45:9<1387:MEOH-A>2.0.ZU;2-O
Abstract
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.