IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v62y2006i8p1991-2001.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Never-married childless women in Australia: Health and social circumstances in older age

Author

Listed:
  • Cwikel, Julie
  • Gramotnev, Helen
  • Lee, Christina

Abstract

A growing proportion of women reach older age without having married or having children. Assumptions that these older women are lonely, impoverished, and high users of social and health services are based on little evidence. This paper uses data from the Older cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health to describe self-reported demographics, physical and emotional health, and use of services among 10,108 women aged 73-78, of whom 2.7% are never-married and childless. The most striking characteristic of this group is their high levels of education, which are associated with fewer reported financial difficulties and higher rates of private health insurance. There are few differences in self-reported physical or emotional health or use of health services between these and other groups of older women. Compared with older married women with children, they make higher use of formal services such as home maintenance and meal services, and are also more likely to provide volunteer services and belong to social groups. Overall, there is no evidence to suggest that these women are a "problem" group. Rather, it seems that their life experiences and opportunities prepare them for a successful and productive older age.

Suggested Citation

  • Cwikel, Julie & Gramotnev, Helen & Lee, Christina, 2006. "Never-married childless women in Australia: Health and social circumstances in older age," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 1991-2001, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:62:y:2006:i:8:p:1991-2001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(05)00499-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Young, Anne F. & Russell, Anne & Powers, Jennifer R., 2004. "The sense of belonging to a neighbourhood: can it be measured and is it related to health and well being in older women?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(12), pages 2627-2637, December.
    2. Waldron, Ingrid & Hughes, Mary Elizabeth & Brooks, Tracy L., 1996. "Marriage protection and marriage selection--Prospective evidence for reciprocal effects of marital status and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 113-123, July.
    3. Zhenmei Zhang & Mark D. Hayward, 2001. "Childlessness and the Psychological Well-Being of Older Persons," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 56(5), pages 311-320.
    4. Davis, M.A. & Neuhaus, J.M. & Moritz, D.J. & Segal, M.R., 1992. "Living arrangements and survival among middle-aged and older adults in the NHANES I epidemiologic follow-up study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 82(3), pages 401-406.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jiangsheng Chen & Hong Yang, 2016. "Geographical Mobility, Income, Life Satisfaction and Family Size Preferences: An Empirical Study on Rural Households in Shaanxi and Henan Provinces in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 277-290, October.
    2. 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.
    3. Pachara Pimpawatin & Nopphol Witvorapong, 2023. "Direct and Indirect Effects of Parenthood on Later-Life Happiness: Evidence from Older Adults in Thailand," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 249-266, June.
    4. Florianne C. J. Verkroost, 2022. "A Bayesian multivariate hierarchical growth curve model to examine cumulative socio‐economic (dis)advantage among childless adults and parents," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(4), pages 2234-2276, October.
    5. Christina Musalek & Sylvia Kirchengast, 2017. "Grip Strength as an Indicator of Health-Related Quality of Life in Old Age—A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-12, November.
    6. Celia Lo & Tyrone Cheng & Gaynell Simpson, 2016. "Marital status and work-related health limitation: a longitudinal study of young adult and middle-aged Americans," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 61(1), pages 91-100, January.

    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. Karsten Hank & Michael Wagner, 2013. "Parenthood, Marital Status, and Well-Being in Later Life: Evidence from SHARE," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 639-653, November.
    2. Kilpi, Fanny & Konttinen, Hanna & Silventoinen, Karri & Martikainen, Pekka, 2015. "Living arrangements as determinants of myocardial infarction incidence and survival: A prospective register study of over 300,000 Finnish men and women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 93-100.
    3. G. Miller & Yuriy Pylypchuk, 2014. "Marital Status, Spousal Characteristics, and the Use of Preventive Care," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 323-338, September.
    4. Sirois, Catherine, 2020. "The strain of sons' incarceration on mothers’ health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    5. Plane, Jocelyn & Klodawsky, Fran, 2013. "Neighbourhood amenities and health: Examining the significance of a local park," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1-8.
    6. 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.
    7. Lager Debbie & van Hoven Bettina & Meijering Louise, 2012. "Places that Matter: Place Attachment and Wellbeing of Older Antillean Migrants in the Netherlands," European Spatial Research and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 19(1), pages 81-94, July.
    8. Kenzie Latham & Philippa J. Clarke & Greg Pavela, 2015. "Social Relationships, Gender, and Recovery From Mobility Limitation Among Older Americans," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 70(5), pages 769-781.
    9. Sibai, Abla M. & Yount, Kathryn M. & Fletcher, Astrid, 2007. "Marital status, intergenerational co-residence and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality among middle-aged and older men and women during wartime in Beirut: Gains and liabilities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 64-76, January.
    10. Averett, Susan L. & Sikora, Asia & Argys, Laura M., 2008. "For better or worse: Relationship status and body mass index," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 330-349, December.
    11. Gan, Daniel R.Y. & Fung, John Chye & Cho, Im Sik, 2021. "Neighborhood atmosphere modifies the eudaimonic impact of cohesion and friendship among older adults: A multilevel mixed-methods study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    12. Zanetta Gant & Larry Gant & Ruiguang Song & Leigh Willis & Anna Satcher Johnson, 2014. "A Census Tract–Level Examination of Social Determinants of Health among Black/African American Men with Diagnosed HIV Infection, 2005–2009—17 US Areas," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(9), pages 1-7, September.
    13. Thomas Hansen & Britt Slagsvold & Torbjørn Moum, 2009. "Childlessness and Psychological Well-Being in Midlife and Old Age: An Examination of Parental Status Effects Across a Range of Outcomes," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 94(2), pages 343-362, November.
    14. Carolina Mayen Huerta & Ariane Utomo, 2022. "Barriers Affecting Women’s Access to Urban Green Spaces during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, April.
    15. Roos, Eva & Burström, Bo & Saastamoinen, Peppiina & Lahelma, Eero, 2005. "A comparative study of the patterning of women's health by family status and employment status in Finland and Sweden," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(11), pages 2443-2451, June.
    16. Espinosa, Javier & Evans, William N., 2008. "Heightened mortality after the death of a spouse: Marriage protection or marriage selection?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1326-1342, September.
    17. Artazcoz, Lucia & Cortès, Imma & Borrell, Carme & Escribà-Agüir, Vicenta & Cascant, Lorena, 2011. "Social inequalities in the association between partner/marital status and health among workers in Spain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(4), pages 600-607, February.
    18. Ribar, David C., 2004. "What Do Social Scientists Know About the Benefits of Marriage? A Review of Quantitative Methodologies," IZA Discussion Papers 998, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Eleonora Trappolini, Giammarco Alderotti, 2023. "Migrants’ health in Italy: do the union status and the partner’s nationality matter? (Best Young Researcher Paper 2023)," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 77(2), pages 179-189, April-Jun.
    20. Michael Geruso, 2012. "Black-White Disparities in Life Expectancy: How Much Can the Standard SES Variables Explain?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(2), pages 553-574, May.

    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:eee:socmed:v:62:y:2006:i:8:p:1991-2001. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    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.