HEALTH-RELATED BEHAVIORS AND THE BENEFITS OF MARRIAGE FOR ELDERLY PERSONS

In this article, we investigate the relationship between health behavi ors, marital status, and gender in the elderly population. We estimate logistic regression models to determine the factors that affect the l ikelihood of undertaking healthy behaviors. Using data from the 1987 N ational Medical Expenditure Survey, we find that marriage has positive impacts on health behaviors in the elderly population and that, when these effects differ by gender, they tend to be larger for elderly men than for elderly women. These results extend earlier findings showing that marriage encourages healthy behaviors for a younger population a nd demonstrate that these benefits continue later in life.