Married Peers Research Articles

Unmarried Older Women Are Twice as Likely to Lack Health Insurance

Older women who are divorced, separated, widowed, or who have never married have twice the uninsured rate of their married peers, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. The study, “Health and Health Care Access Among California Women, Ages 50–64,” examines a range of health issues and trends among California's approximately 3 million older women, an age group that often faces new and accelerated chronic health conditions, according to lead author Roberta Wyn, associate director of the center. “It's a time of critical change for older women,” Wyn said. “Not only are they at risk of new and complex health conditions, but as they near the age of retirement, their insurance status may change too.” The authors note that women between the ages of 50 and 64 are more prone than younger women to a wide range of health conditions, including asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. Nearly 4 in 10 women in this age group will be diagnosed with high blood pressure, and nearly 6 in 10 are either obese or overweight. In both cases, the percentages are higher than for younger women, say the researchers. The likelihood of having health insurance, the study found, was related to a woman's marital status. Using data from the 2007 California Health Interview Survey, Wyn and her co-author found that one quarter of older women who had never married and 21% of divorced, separated, or widowed women were uninsured—more than twice the rates of married women. The California Health Interview Survey is the nation's largest state health survey and among the largest health surveys in the United States. Among all women, low-income women are the most likely to be uninsured (34%) and the least likely to have employment-based coverage (24%), according to the policy brief. Lack of insurance can result in a delay in accessing needed care. One third (32%) of uninsured women aged 50–64 reported that they delayed or did not get needed medical care in the past year, a rate twice as high as that for women with employment-based coverage in this age group. Uninsured women between 50 and 64 were also much more likely to report not having had cervical cancer screening during the previous three years than women with employment-based coverage (28% vs 5%) and were more likely to report not having had a mammogram during the previous 2 years (39% vs 10%). The data were collected in 2007, before the recession, and Wyn noted that “the economic recession and subsequent widespread job loss may have pushed uninsurance rates even higher.” The study authors also stressed the need for proactive policies and programs that promote healthy behaviors and environments to help stem the rising rates of obesity in this age group. See the policy brief at: http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/pubs/Publication.aspx?pubID=400.

The "Wedding-Ring"

Abstract In this paper we develop an agent-based marriage model based on interaction. We build an population of interacting agents whose chances of marrying depend on availability of partners, and whose willingness to marry depends on share of in their network who are already married. We then let typical aggregate age pattern of marriage emerge from The results of our simulation show that micro-level hypotheses founded on existing theory and evidence on interaction can reproduce age-at-marriage patterns with both realistic shape and realistic micro-level dynamics. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.) 1. Introduction In and behavioral sciences, timing of marriage has been studied from two different perspectives. On one side, demographers and sociologists have focused on explaining and modeling important stylized facts such as typical shape of age-at- marriage curves; their analytical strategies have usually relied on mathematical and statistical macro-level models. On other side, psychologists and economists have focused on studying and modeling process of partner search; micro-level assumptions have usually been at heart of this approach. More recently, agent-based modeling has been proposed as a convenient approach to build models that account for macro-level marriage patterns while starting from plausible micro-level assumptions. This is particularly important in marriage models because agent-based models allow for realistic hypotheses on interaction between heterogeneous potential partners that typically takes place in marriage market (Billari et al., 2003; Todd and Billari, 2003; Simao and Todd, 2003; Todd et al., 2005; Aparicio Diaz and Fent, 2006). The study of emergence of macro-level outcomes from micro-level models that contains interactions allows to bridge micro- and macro-level perspective from the bottom-up. This approach is very widely used in agent-based models, for which application to demographic choices has been recently advocated (Billari and Prskawetz, 2003). The macro-level outcome that has been studied most is age pattern of marriage, which demographers have shown as being characterized by constant features over time and space (Coale, 1971; Coale and McNeil, 1972). Partnership formation is by definition interaction itself. In contemporary societies, great majority of potential partners meet each other, talk to each other, have sex before cohabiting or getting married. Nevertheless, important scientific evidence signals that interactions taking place in marriage market are not limited to those between potential partners. Indeed, study of impact of what relevant others think and do on key decisions concerning our lives - such as getting married and having children - has emerged as an important field of research (Bongaarts and Watkins, 1996). Montgomery and Casterline (1996; 1998) identify two distinct processes through which matter: first, social learning, reflecting acquisition of information in a network; second, social influence, reflecting power might exercise over an individual through authority, deference, and conformity pressure. While most results on learning and influence refer to contraceptive and fertility choices in developing world, recent evidence from qualitative surveys shows that both learning and influence are among important factors in decision to get married in a contemporary society (Bernardi, 2003). What do is a key mechanism in influential macro-level diffusion model of age-at-marriage proposed by Hernes (1972). Hernes' model is built on assumption that a diffusion process takes place within a cohort of individuals, with share of married peers influencing propensity to marry. …

Single Adult Mothers are Considerably Less Well-Off Than Their Married Peers

Single Adult Mothers are Considerably Less Well-Off Than Their Married Peers

Peer Marriage: How Love between Equals Really Works.

Today's couples insist on equality in most aspects of their marriages. Based on probing in-depth interviews with more than 100 couples, this book uncovers the hidden pitfalls, the drastic changes, and the unsuspected and astonishing rewards experienced by truly equal partners in these new marital relationships. Sociologist Pepper Schwartz demonstrates the deep friendship between married peers, the care needed when introducing children into such friendships and the disturbing frequency with which peer marriage actually undermines couples' sex lives. And she alerts couples to the danger of preaching equality while failing to practice it, which causes more problems than it solves. Throughout, the author shows peer couples how, with careful consideration of all aspects of their marriage, they can fulfil the unprecedented promise of equality.

Husbands caring for demented wives: Sequelae of loss of wife as a support

Epidemiological data suggest that men benefit more from marriage than women, and suffer more from widowhood. When older mens' wives have progressive dementia it may be especially difficult for husbands. Twenty-one husbands caring for a wife with progressive dementia were compared with age, sex, and education-matched married peers on the role of their wives as supports, general social support available to them and requested of them, as well as distress measures. Caregiving husbands were less likely to list their wives as a significant support source and reported feeling lonely more often. On average, caregivers reported one fewer social support network member and were significantly more distressed than their non-caring counterparts. No differences were found between caregiving and control husbands on the frequency of contacts with network members, closeness to members, and frequency of making or receiving requests for support. Caregiver distress was correlated with patient impairment, but not duration of caregiving.

A Re-Examination of Widowhood and Morale

Previous research has suggested widowed status to be associated with lower morale or life satisfaction. The effects of marital status on morale relative to five covariates (health, income, age, family interaction, and employment status) were examined with 232 widowed and 363 married women aged 45-74, drawn in a multistage stratified area probability sample of Los Angeles County. Analysis of covariance was utilized with a six-item, factor analyzed measure of morale. Parallel analyses were performed for each of three ethnic groups (blacks, Mexican-American, and white) to examine specific ethnic patterns. In the total sample, poor health was associated with significantly lower morale among widowed than among married women. The analysis with age showed the widowed group catching up and surpassing their married peers on morale at higher ages. Controlling for income and employment status eliminated differences between the marital status groups on morale scores. Higher family interaction was positively associated with morale in both groups, but married women were consistently higher on morale regardless of level of interaction. Most ethnic differences were not significant, but family interaction appeared to be crucial among Mexican-American widows. The findings suggest that lower morale scores found among the widowed may be partly attributable to other factors commonly associated with this status and not due to the role of widowhood per se.