IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ijphth/v61y2016i3d10.1007_s00038-015-0776-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Marital breakup in later adulthood and self-rated health: a cross-sectional survey in Switzerland

Author

Listed:
  • Bina Knöpfli

    (University of Berne)

  • Stéphane Cullati

    (University of Geneva)

  • Delphine S. Courvoisier

    (University of Geneva)

  • Claudine Burton-Jeangros

    (University of Geneva)

  • Pasqualina Perrig-Chiello

    (University of Berne)

Abstract

Objectives This research examines the impact of relationship status on self-rated health (SRH) by taking into account intrapersonal and social resources. Methods Data stem from a Swiss-based survey of 1355 participants aged 40–65 years. Three groups are compared: continuously married (n = 399), single divorcees (n = 532) and repartnered divorcees (n = 424). Linear regression models are used to examine the predictive role of relationship status on SRH and to investigate the moderating role of intrapersonal and social resources on SRH. Results Single divorcees show the lowest SRH scores, whereas their repartnered counterparts reported scores comparable to the continuously married—even after controlling for socio-demographic and economic variables. Although single divorcees reported higher levels of loneliness and agreeableness in addition to lower levels of resilience when compared with the other groups, none of these variables had a significant moderation effect on SRH. Conclusions Our results underscore the positive effect of relationship status on SRH, and contribute new insights on the impact of later-life divorce. Given the growing number of divorcees, related public health challenges are likely to increase.

Suggested Citation

  • Bina Knöpfli & Stéphane Cullati & Delphine S. Courvoisier & Claudine Burton-Jeangros & Pasqualina Perrig-Chiello, 2016. "Marital breakup in later adulthood and self-rated health: a cross-sectional survey in Switzerland," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 61(3), pages 357-366, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijphth:v:61:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s00038-015-0776-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s00038-015-0776-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00038-015-0776-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00038-015-0776-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arber, Sara & Fenn, Kirsty & Meadows, Robert, 2014. "Subjective financial well-being, income and health inequalities in mid and later life in Britain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 12-20.
    2. Susan L. Brown & I-Fen Lin, 2012. "The Gray Divorce Revolution: Rising Divorce Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults, 1990-2010," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 67(6), pages 731-741.
    3. Liu, Hui, 2012. "Marital dissolution and self-rated health: Age trajectories and birth cohort variations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(7), pages 1107-1116.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Newton, Nicky J. & Ryan, Lindsay H. & King, Rachel T. & Smith, Jacqui, 2014. "Cohort differences in the marriage–health relationship for midlife women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 64-72.
    2. Alice Zulkarnain & Sanders Korenman, 2019. "Divorce and health in middle and older ages," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1081-1106, December.
    3. Hippolyte d'Albis & Karina Doorley & Elena Stancanelli, 2021. "Older mothers' employment and marriage stability when the nest is empty," PSE Working Papers halshs-03203063, HAL.
    4. Burlinson, Andrew & Giulietti, Monica & Law, Cherry & Liu, Hui-Hsuan, 2021. "Fuel poverty and financial distress," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    5. Marcel Fischer & Natalia Khorunzhina, 2019. "Housing Decision With Divorce Risk," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1263-1290, August.
    6. Elena Bastianelli & Daniele Vignoli, 2021. "Instability of Employment Careers and Union Dissolution. A Complex Micro-level Relation," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2021_04, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    7. John Douglas Skåtun, 2017. "Bargaining on your Spouse: Coasean and Non-Coasean Behaviour Within Marriage," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 263-278, June.
    8. Doorley, Karina & Stancanelli, Elena G. F., 2019. "Marital Status and Retirement: An Empirical Study for France," IZA Discussion Papers 12299, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Kautonen, Teemu & Kibler, Ewald & Minniti, Maria, 2017. "Late-career entrepreneurship, income and quality of life," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 318-333.
    10. Carole Comerton‐Forde & John de New & Nicolás Salamanca & David C. Ribar & Andrea Nicastro & James Ross, 2022. "Measuring Financial Wellbeing with Self‐Reported and Bank Record Data," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 98(321), pages 133-151, June.
    11. Davillas, Apostolos & Burlinson, Andrew & Liu, Hui-Hsuan, 2022. "Getting warmer: Fuel poverty, objective and subjective health and well-being," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    12. Nicolas Sirven, 2012. "On the Socio-Economic Determinants of Frailty: Findings from Panel and Retrospective Data from SHARE," Working Papers DT52, IRDES institut for research and information in health economics, revised Dec 2012.
    13. Janice Compton & Robert A Pollak, 2021. "The life expectancy of older couples and surviving spouses," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(5), pages 1-13, May.
    14. Jolidon, Vladimir, 2022. "Gender inequality and mammography screening: Does living with a partner improve women's mammography uptake?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    15. Ifra Bashir & Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, 2023. "A Systematic Literature Review on Personal Financial Well-Being: The Link to Key Sustainable Development Goals 2030," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 12(1), pages 31-48, March.
    16. Giammarco Alderotti & Cecilia Tomassini & Daniele Vignoli, 2022. "‘Silver splits’ in Europe: The role of grandchildren and other correlates," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 46(21), pages 619-652.
    17. Emily Brown Weida & Pam Phojanakong & Falguni Patel & Mariana Chilton, 2020. "Financial health as a measurable social determinant of health," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-14, May.
    18. Lowell Hargens, 2019. "Incidence of first-marriage divorce among women in the 1979 panel of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(52), pages 1529-1536.
    19. Tosi, Marco & van den Broek, Thijs, 2020. "Gray divorce and mental health in the United Kingdom," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    20. Shuai Chen & Jan C. Ours, 2018. "Subjective Well-being and Partnership Dynamics: Are Same-Sex Relationships Different?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2299-2320, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ijphth:v:61:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s00038-015-0776-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.