IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v67y2008i9p1456-1464.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Marital and cohabitation status as predictors of mortality: A 10-year follow-up of an Italian elderly cohort

Author

Listed:
  • Scafato, Emanuele
  • Galluzzo, Lucia
  • Gandin, Claudia
  • Ghirini, Silvia
  • Baldereschi, Marzia
  • Capurso, Antonio
  • Maggi, Stefania
  • Farchi, Gino
  • for the ILSA Working Group

Abstract

The relationship between mortality and marital status has long been recognized, but only a small number of investigations consider also the association with cohabitation status. Moreover, age and gender differences have not been sufficiently clarified. In addition, little is known on this matter about the Italian elderly population. The aim of this study is to examine differentials in survival with respect to marital status and cohabitation status in order to evaluate their possible predictive value on mortality of an Italian elderly cohort. This paper employs data from the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging (ILSA), an extensive epidemiologic project on subjects aged 65-84 years. Of the 5376 individuals followed-up from 1992 to 2002, 1977 died, and 1492 were lost during follow-up period. The baseline interview was administered to 84% of the 5376 individuals and 65% of them underwent biological and instrumental examination. Relative risks of mortality for marital (married vs. non-married) and cohabitation (not living alone vs. living alone) categories are estimated through hazard ratios (HR), obtained by means of the Cox proportional hazards regression model, adjusting for age and several other potentially confounding variables. Non-married men (HRÂ =Â 1.25; 95% CI: 1.03-1.52) and those living alone (HRÂ =Â 1.42; 95% CI: 1.05-1.92) show a statistically significant increased mortality risk compared to their married or cohabiting counterparts. After age-adjustment, women's survival is influenced neither by marital status nor by cohabitation status. None of the other covariates significantly alters the observed differences in mortality, in either gender. Neither marital nor cohabitation status are independent predictors of mortality among Italian women 65+, while among men living alone is a predictor of mortality even stronger than not being married. These results suggest that Italian men benefit more than women from the protective effect of living with someone.

Suggested Citation

  • Scafato, Emanuele & Galluzzo, Lucia & Gandin, Claudia & Ghirini, Silvia & Baldereschi, Marzia & Capurso, Antonio & Maggi, Stefania & Farchi, Gino & for the ILSA Working Group, 2008. "Marital and cohabitation status as predictors of mortality: A 10-year follow-up of an Italian elderly cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1456-1464, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:67:y:2008:i:9:p:1456-1464
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(08)00332-8
    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. Manor, O. & Eisenbach, Z. & Peritz, E. & Friedlander, Y., 1999. "Mortality differentials among Israeli men," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(12), pages 1807-1813.
    2. Tapani Valkonen & Pekka Martikainen & Jenni Blomgren, 2004. "Increasing excess mortality among non-married elderly people in developed countries," Demographic Research Special Collections, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 2(12), pages 305-330.
    3. 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.
    4. Lee Lillard & Constantijn Panis, 1996. "Marital status and mortality: The role of health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 33(3), pages 313-327, August.
    5. Manzoli, Lamberto & Villari, Paolo & M Pirone, Giovanni & Boccia, Antonio, 2007. "Marital status and mortality in the elderly: A systematic review and meta-analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 77-94, January.
    6. Lund, Rikke & Due, Pernille & Modvig, Jens & Holstein, Bjørn Evald & Damsgaard, Mogens Trab & Andersen, Per Kragh, 2002. "Cohabitation and marital status as predictors of mortality--an eight year follow-up study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 673-679, August.
    7. Manor, Orly & Eisenbach, Zvi & Israeli, Avi & Friedlander, Yechiel, 2000. "Mortality differentials among women: the Israel Longitudinal Mortality Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(8), pages 1175-1188, October.
    8. Goldman, Noreen & Korenman, Sanders & Weinstein, Rachel, 1995. "Marital status and health among the elderly," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 40(12), pages 1717-1730, June.
    9. Martikainen, P. & Valkonen, T., 1996. "Mortality after the death of a spouse: Rates and causes of death in a large Finnish cohort," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 86(8), pages 1087-1093.
    10. Munch, Jakob Roland & Svarer, Michael, 2005. "Mortality and socio-economic differences in Denmark: a competing risks proportional hazard model," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 17-32, March.
    11. Noreen Goldman, 1993. "Marriage selection and mortality patterns: Inferences and fallacies," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 30(2), pages 189-208, May.
    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. 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.
    2. Saruna Ghimire & Carl V Hill & Francisco S Sy & Rachelle Rodriguez, 2019. "Decline in telomere length by age and effect modification by gender, allostatic load and comorbidities in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2002)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-14, August.
    3. Jon Anson, 2010. "Beyond Material Explanations: Family Solidarity and Mortality, a Small Area‐level Analysis," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(1), pages 27-45, March.
    4. Haruhiko Imamura & Hideki Nakamura & Yuji Nishiwaki, 2018. "Relationship between the Well-Being of Elderly Men and Cohabiting with Women Who Have Had Experience as a Health Promotion Volunteer in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Molloy, Gerard John & Stamatakis, Emmanuel & Randall, Gemma & Hamer, Mark, 2009. "Marital status, gender and cardiovascular mortality: Behavioural, psychological distress and metabolic explanations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 223-228, July.
    6. Markéta Pechholdová & Gabriela Šamanová, 2013. "Mortality by marital status in a rapidly changing society: Evidence from the Czech Republic," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(12), pages 307-322.
    7. Sebastian Franke & Hill Kulu, 2018. "Mortality Differences by Partnership Status in England and Wales: The Effect of Living Arrangements or Health Selection?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(1), pages 87-118, February.
    8. Donrovich, Robyn & Drefahl, Sven & Koupil, Ilona, 2014. "Early life conditions, partnership histories, and mortality risk for Swedish men and women born 1915–1929," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 60-67.
    9. Requena, Miguel & Reher, David, 2021. "Partnership and mortality in mid and late life: Protection or selection?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    10. Puthiery Va & Wan-Shui Yang & Sarah Nechuta & Wong-Ho Chow & Hui Cai & Gong Yang & Shan Gao & Yu-Tang Gao & Wei Zheng & Xiao-Ou Shu & Yong-Bing Xiang, 2011. "Marital Status and Mortality among Middle Age and Elderly Men and Women in Urban Shanghai," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(11), pages 1-10, November.
    11. Castellari, Elena & Tiboldo, Giulia & Moro, Daniele & Bimbo, Francesco, 2021. "La Dolce Vita in times of harshness: Prevalence of health-related behaviors during the great recession in Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).

    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. Moisés H. Sandoval & Marcela E. Alvear Portaccio, 2022. "Marital Status, Living Arrangements and Mortality at Older Ages in Chile, 2004–2016," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-15, October.
    2. Eran Shor & David Roelfs & Misty Curreli & Lynn Clemow & Matthew Burg & Joseph Schwartz, 2012. "Widowhood and Mortality: A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(2), pages 575-606, May.
    3. Requena, Miguel & Reher, David, 2021. "Partnership and mortality in mid and late life: Protection or selection?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    4. 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.
    5. Manzoli, Lamberto & Villari, Paolo & M Pirone, Giovanni & Boccia, Antonio, 2007. "Marital status and mortality in the elderly: A systematic review and meta-analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 77-94, January.
    6. Shor, Eran & Roelfs, David J. & Bugyi, Paul & Schwartz, Joseph E., 2012. "Meta-analysis of marital dissolution and mortality: Reevaluating the intersection of gender and age," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 46-59.
    7. Michael Rendall & Margaret Weden & Melissa Favreault & Hilary Waldron, 2011. "The Protective Effect of Marriage for Survival: A Review and Update," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(2), pages 481-506, May.
    8. 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).
    9. Rong Fu & Haruko Noguchi, 2018. "Does the positive relationship between health and marriage reflect protection or selection? Evidence from middle-aged and elderly Japanese," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 1003-1016, December.
    10. Berntsen, Kjersti Norgård & Kravdal, Øystein, 2012. "The relationship between mortality and time since divorce, widowhood or remarriage in Norway," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2267-2274.
    11. Wilson, Chris M. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2005. "How Does Marriage Affect Physical and Psychological Health? A Survey of the Longitudinal Evidence," Economic Research Papers 269622, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    12. 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.
    13. Wilson, Sven E., 2012. "Marriage, gender and obesity in later life," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 431-453.
    14. Donrovich, Robyn & Drefahl, Sven & Koupil, Ilona, 2014. "Early life conditions, partnership histories, and mortality risk for Swedish men and women born 1915–1929," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 60-67.
    15. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    16. Megan Beckett & Marc N. Elliott, 2002. "Does the Association Between Marital Status and Health Vary by Sex, Race, and Ethnicity?," Working Papers 02-08, RAND Corporation.
    17. Markéta Pechholdová & Gabriela Šamanová, 2013. "Mortality by marital status in a rapidly changing society: Evidence from the Czech Republic," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(12), pages 307-322.
    18. Dimiter Philipov & Sergei Scherbov, 2016. "Differences by union status in health and mortality at older ages: Results for 16 European countries," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(19), pages 535-556.
    19. Puthiery Va & Wan-Shui Yang & Sarah Nechuta & Wong-Ho Chow & Hui Cai & Gong Yang & Shan Gao & Yu-Tang Gao & Wei Zheng & Xiao-Ou Shu & Yong-Bing Xiang, 2011. "Marital Status and Mortality among Middle Age and Elderly Men and Women in Urban Shanghai," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(11), pages 1-10, November.
    20. Katalin Kovács, 2005. "Proportionate or concentrated burdens? Health of widowed, divorced and nevermarried in Hungary," Demográfia English Edition, Hungarian Demographic Research Institute, vol. 49(5), pages 104-122.

    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:67:y:2008:i:9:p:1456-1464. 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.