title: Linked lives, dependent demise? Survival analysis of husbands and wives.
abstract: Past research has found that married individuals have substantially lower risks of mortality than their single counterparts. This paper examines how household characteristics affect spouses' risks of mortality. A paired hazard rate model is estimated and tests are made to ascertain whether the estimated coefficients associated with risk factors differ between husbands' and wives' equations. Cigarette smoking, risk-avoidance behavior, poverty, and children are found to affect wives' and husbands' mortality in similar ways. Divorce, which can be interpreted as the termination of this shared household environment, is found to affect spouses differently.
authors.affiliation: Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City 84112.
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Zick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003858:Dependency, Psychological; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004243:Divorce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005783:Gender Identity; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D016019:Survival Analysis