The impact of co-resident spouses and sons on elderly mortality in rural Bangladesh

This paper uses prospective data from the Matlab surveillance system in rur al Bangladesh to demonstrate that initially co-resident spouses and sons ha ve a major impact on the subsequent mortality of old people, with significa nt differences by the sex of the elderly person, and the age of the son. Sp ouses significantly reduce mortality by similar magnitudes for both elderly men and women. On the other hand, co-resident adult sons reduce mortality for elderly women much more than for elderly men, with younger sons being m ore beneficial than older sons. Furthermore, both married and unmarried fem ales appear to benefit equally from co-resident adult sons. Finally, this a nalysis suggests that the impact of spouses and sons on mortality in old ag e is not substantially mediated through changes in elderly economic status.