Lifetime marital history and mortality after age 50.
OBJECTIVE
This article examines the relationship between lifetime marital history and mortality after age 50.


METHODS
Data are drawn from the Health and Retirement Study birth cohort of 1931 to 1941. The analysis utilizes three measures of marital history: number of marriages, proportion time married, and age at first marriage.


RESULTS
Three or more marriages and a lower proportion of adult life spent married are each associated with a higher hazard of dying after age 50 for both men and women even after controlling for current marital status and socioeconomic status. Smoking behavior accounts for part of the relationship of marital history and status with mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
Research on marital status and health should consider marital history as well as current status. Two topics are particularly important: examining the relationship in different cohorts and disentangling the potentially causal role of health behaviors such as smoking.
Henretta
John C
JC
Department of Sociology & Criminology and Law, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611-7330, USA. henretta@ufl.edu
D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States