University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Health And Well-Being By Marital Status: The Effect Of Age, Sex, Income And Social Support. Study Of 1985 Gss Data

(USC Thesis Other)

Health And Well-Being By Marital Status: The Effect Of Age, Sex, Income And Social Support. Study Of 1985 Gss Data

PDF

Download

Open document

Flip pages

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type o f computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality o f the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back o f the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 HEALTH AND W ELL-BEING BY M ARITAL STATUS: THE EFFECT OF AGE, SEX, INCOM E AND SOCIAL SUPPORT. STUDY OF 1985 GSS DATA by ‘Mamochaki M artha Shale A Thesis Presented to THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment o f the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF SCIENCE (Sociology- Applied Demography) August, 1995 Copyright 1995 ‘Mamochaki Shale UMI Number: 1378433 UMI Microform 1378433 Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 UNIVERSITY O F S O U T H E R N C A LIFO R N IA T H E G RADUATE SC H O O L U N IV ER SITY PA RK LO S A N G E L E S, C A L IF O R N IA 9 0 0 0 7 This thesis, written by Mamochaki Martha Shale under the direction of h.gx Thesis Committee, and approved by all its members, has been pre sented to and accepted by the Dean of The Graduate School, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, Sociology (Applied Demography) Dtaa D ate ...... THESIS COM M ITTEE TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOW LEDGEM ENTS.........................................................................................iv LIST OF TABLES..........................................................................................................v A B B ST A C T .................................................................................................................. vi CHAPTER 1: Introdcution...........................................................................................1 1.1 Literature R ev iew .................................................................................................. 2 1.2 Theoratical Perspective.......................................................................................... 6 1.3 M ethods.....................................................................................................................8 1.4 Measurement o f Variables .................................................................................. 8 a.Dependent Variables.............................................................................................8 (I) Health..........................................................................................................8 (ii) Happiness...................................................................................................8 b. Independent Variables.........................................................................................9 (I) Marital Status........................................................................................... 9 c. Control Variables................................................................................................9 (I) Age.................................................................................................................9 (ii) Sex................................................................................................................9 (iii) Income....................................................................................................... 9 (iv)..Social Support...........................................................................................10 CHAPTER 2: Results.................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Self-rated Health & marital Status....................................................................... 11 2.2 Effects o f Control Variables................................................................................... 12 a. A ge..........................................................................................................................13 b. Sex..........................................................................................................................14 c. Income 15 d. Social Support.....................................................................................................17 2.3 The Feeling o f Well-being and Marital Status...................................................18 a. Effects o f Controlling for Age...........................................................................19 b. Effects o f Controlling for Sex........................................................................... 20 c. Effects o f Controlling for Income....................................................................22 d. Effects o f Controlling for Social Support........................................................ 23 CHAPTER 3: Multiple Regression Analysis Results................................................25 CHAPTER 4: Discussion & Conclusion..................................................................... 29 REFERENCES..................................................................................................................32 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In preparing this theses I was helped, guided and advised by a number o f people whom I wish to thank. I wish to thank all the members o f my Thesis Guidance Committee. Professor David Heer the chair o f this committee was always ready to put some time aside for me whenever I needed his guidance. Professor Edward Ransford, chair o f my committee for the Empirical Paper from which this thesis has developed, deserves my special thanks. His very thorough review o f my work and detailed comments are highly appreciated. Professor Timothy Biblarz, who guided my Statistical Analysis for both this paper and my empirical paper. His readiness to read my draft at short notice and his encouraging comments lifted my spirits and made me feel good about my work. My special thanks go to Professor Maurice Van Arsdol, Jr., Ph.D., my mentor, who acted as advisor, a teacher and a good friend. I would like to give special thanks to Gerald P. Jones, Ph.D., the statistics consultant at the University Computing Services, he spent considerable amount o f time showing me several tips about writing and running a SAS program. I wish to express my appreciation to G. Gonzales for letting me use his Unitree account to access the GSS data. I am indebted to my home institution, the National University o f Lesotho, for granting me study leave to study abroad. I am also indebted to the W.K Kellogg Foundation for giving me all the financial support I needed to complete my studies at USC. Finally, my greatest appreciation and loving thanks are due my daughter, Moliehi Shale, for typing all my work, as well as my daughter Kojang who was my word processing consultant. iv LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: Percentage Distribution o f the Respondent’ s Evaluation o f their Health by Marital Status...............................................................................12 TABLE 2: Percentage Distribution o f the Respondent’ s Evaluation o f their Health by Marital Status Controlling for A ge.......................................... 13 TABLE 3: Percentage Distribution o f the Respondent’s Evaluation o f their Health by Marital Status controlling for Sex.......................................... 14 TABLE 4: Percentage Distribution o f the Respondent’s Evaluation o f their Health by Marital Status Controlling for Income......................................16 TABLE 5: Percentage Distribution o f the Respondent’s Evaluation o f their Health by Marital Status Controlling for Social Support......................... 17 TABLE 6. Percentage Distribution o f the Respondent’s Evaluation o f their Well-being by Marital Status........................................................................... 19 TABLE 7: Percentage Distribution o f the Respondent’s Evaluation o f their Well-being by Marital Status Controlling for age...................................... 20 TABLE 8: Percentage Distribution o f the Respondent’s Evaluation o f their Well-being by Marital Status Controlling for Sex.......................................21 TABLE 9: Percentage Distribution o f the Respondent’s Evaluation o f their Well-being by Marital Status Controlling for Income................................23 TABLE 10: Percentage Distribution o f the Respondent’s Evaluation o f their Well-being by Marital Status Controlling for Social Support..................24 TABLE 11: Unstandardized and Standardized Regression Coefficients o f the Model for the Health and Well-being Determinants in the 1985 GSS D ata.............................................................................................................. 25 TABLE 12: Unstandardized Regression Coefficients: Relative Effects o f Individually introducing the Independent Variables into the Marital Status and Health / Happiness Relationship M odel.........................27 ABSTRACT Results from a 1985 national survey (N=1530) show that marital status differences exert significant impact on health and feeling o f well-being. Underlying this analysis is the hypothesis that widowhood is psychologically more stressful than other marital statuses and that, therefore widows are more likely to report poor health and lower levels o f happiness. Much o f these differences are expected to disappear or drastically decrease when age, income, social support and sex are held constant. The results show that single and married respondents are almost equally likely to report good health and that married people appear to be the happiest while the separated, but not the widows/widowers are the least happy. Holding age, income, social support and sex constant affects these relationships but very slightly, with exception o f one statistical interaction in which the separated individuals are especially likely to be unhappy under the conditions o f low social support. v i CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION W idowhood increasingly became an area o f academic research in the sixties, when researchers turned attention to the systematic study o f personal adaptation and coping throughout the life course. W idowhood has been associated with impaired psychological, physical, and social functioning, and increased risk o f mortality (Stroebe & Stroebe 1983). According to Mathews (1991), at least in Canada and the United States, studies have typically examined the what and how o f the reconstructed world in widowhood. The actual process o f the way in which the surviving spouse carries on with his/her life has, however, largely been ignored. M atthews contends that research addressing the social meaning o f widowhood for men is rare. This is probably related to the fact that over decades, a greater majority o f the widowed were women. Previous studies on widowhood have pointed to the differences in health between the widowed and people o f other marital statuses. These studies have not specified how people's lives are affected by widowhood in ways that contribute to varying self rating o f their health and happiness, particularly under conditions o f differing levels o f social support and income. Age was used as a control variable in one o f the studies (Matthews: 1991) examining a relationship between health and marital status. However, this particular study does not have a countrywide coverage, and only focuses on the elderly. This paper aims at addressing these gaps characterizing the literature reviewed. I develop a theoretical framework to explain how widowhood affects health and happiness, and I examine the role o f age, social support and income, as control variables and intervening variables. Furthermore, the analysis is based on a nationally representative survey. 1 1.1 Literature Review The use o f standard demographic characteristics such as age and marital status in the study o f widowhood is evident in the literature. A study o f the social conditions under which aged widowed persons manage their lives was done by the Washington Agricultural Experiment Station in 1967. Using data gathered from respondents living in the State o f Washington, Berardo (1987) compared widowed and married respondents on such adjustment factors as rated health, age and living circumstances. It was clear that married respondents enjoyed better health than their widowed peers, even when age was held constant. A similar pattern is observed with regard to the level o f friendship relations, social isolation, satisfaction with leisure time, living circumstances and economic circumstances. On all those factors widowed respondents fared less well than the married respondents. These results tend to be supported by subsequent studies on stress in widowhood, (Feraro et al 1984), (Gove 1972), Berkman 1969), Verbugge (1979), Renne (1971). All these studies support the positive role played by married status relative to other marital statuses in different aspects o f life. They also concur about the negative relationship between widowhood and quality o f life in general. In particular, widowhood has been found to have adverse impact on health and well-being, because widowed people find it hard to cope. Verbugge (1979) reports particularly interesting morbidity and mortality levels for married and non married people. Using data from a number o f health surveys as well as the 1960 and 1970 population census, she found that divorced and separated people have the worst health status, with the highest rates o f acute conditions, which limit social activity and involve disability. For health status, widowed people rank second, followed by single people. Married people appear healthiest, having low rates o f chronic limitation and disability. A popular explanation for these differentials is that married people are happier and less depressed compared to non-married people. Consequently, marital status 2 safeguards them against engaging in behaviors involving high risks o f illness and injury. Divorced and separated people may be more inclined to engage in drinking, smoking and other behaviors with high health risk. People are thought to relieve stress through such behavior. She further points out that the reverse may also be true. Healthy people are more attractive for marriage while single people with physical disabilities and chronic conditions are less attractive. Lopata (1973) has however shown that widowhood affects different coping mechanisms. Her analysis o f a modern woman leads her to classify widows she studied according to a typology she has developed for an Urbanite woman. The first type o f widow is a very open-minded person, whose flexible character allows her to survive widowhood and build a new life for herself. The second type o f widow is characterized by adherence to a traditional way o f life. Being immersed in kin relations and other types o f social networks, she may not experience any dramatic change after the death o f her husband. A third type o f urban widow is the social isolate, either because she cannot engage in modern society, or because o f downward mobility. Paramount in Lopata's typology is the observation that the personality o f the widow contributes to the way in which widowhood affects her. Nelson (1988:2) further contends that the number o f economic and social penalties the woman will encounter upon being widowed is inversely related to the amount o f autonomy she enjoyed prior to widowhood. Studies o f the widowed have also examined the effects o f this form o f loss on social support. Using panel data from a national sample o f low-income aged people, Feraro et al (1984) found that for both married and widowed respondents, age has a negative effect on friendship support. This supports the work o f Lowenthal and Haven (1968). 3 In contrast it has been suggested (Blau, 1961) that the prevalence o f widowhood among people over seventy years increases the chances for friendship. This is supported by Berado's results based on a sub-sample from the Thurston County study in W ashington State. Contact with friends has been observed to help older people to revive pleasant memories and sustain a feeling o f well-being. A comparison o f widowhood with other marital statuses and life course transition was made by Mathews (1991), in a monograph based on tw o Canadian studies on aging. Her finding was that contrary to conventional wisdom, the widowed are more similar to never married in their use o f support systems, but less similar to the separated/divorced in social support usage and well-being. In the case o f older Canadians, widowhood is not normally a period o f stress and dependency. It is rather a role transition, presenting a period o f personal change with potential positive or negative outcomes. Drawing a distinction between widowhood versus separation and divorce, she borrows from Hyman (1983,9). Hyman contends that without a control group, a researcher is likely to make false conclusions about observed patterns being effects o f widowhood. The use o f a married group in comparative design studies is criticized on the grounds that both the widowed and the married are both marriage survivors. A more appropriate control group, for isolating the distinctive effects o f widowhood, they argue, is the separated or divorced. Also quoting Gove 1973, Mathews, points to the evidence o f physical and mental health problems being more prevalent among the divorced than among widows. The highly significant gender differences in health have been well documented in the literature, Verbugge (1985) Madans & Verbugge (1983), Gove and Hughes (1979) Verbrugge (1982). These studies all attest to have observed higher mortality among men while women appear to have higher morbidity. Other studies have shown an inverse relationship between mortality and morbidity when sex differences are considered. While 4 women are sick more often, they live longer. Men may be sick less often, but die younger, Nathanson (1979), National Center for Health Statistics (1990), Waldron (1981, 1983), Verbrugge (1985, 1986). Regarding the types o f illness that affect men and women, long term or chronic conditions affect women more. However these conditions are not a leading causes o f death, explaining the higher life expectancy for women than for men. Differences in longevity may also be explained by wom en’s greater use o f health services compared to men, even with the exclusion o f rates o f utilization o f maternity services, Andersen & Anderson (1979), Clearly, Mechanic & Greenley (1982), M arcus and Seeman (1982), National Center for Health Statistics (1991), Wan and Soifer (1974). On the other hand, for chronic diseases like cancer, researchers have not found significant gender differences in the reporting o f symptoms. Regarding self health rating, the literature is not as extensive . In a study o f the elderly, G.B. Stavig (1990), found more elderly females to have activities-of-daily-living difficulty than elderly males. His investigation provides evidence suggesting a link between role expectations and self rated health for both men and women. Studies o f widowhood have pointed to gender differences in levels o f depression and adjustment. Having ever been widowed has been associated with current levels o f depression . This association was greater for men than women, Umberson, W orton, Kessler (1992). In explaining their findings, the authors suggest that what appears on the surface to be gender difference in vulnerability to the same life event, turns out, upon closer scrutiny to occur because widowhood affects men and women differently. With regard to gender differences in coping with widowhood, it has generally been found that women adjust to bereavement worse than men (Bowling and Cartwright 1982). It is evident from the fore-going literature review that most studies on marital status and health have largely considered age, income, sex and social support as determinants o f health, rather than as intervening or control variables between health and marital status. 5 The question o f how widows/widowers as a marital group, perceive their health and well being under the said conditions, remains unanswered. The only exception to this trend is M atthews' study o f Canadian elderly, in which he controls for age and sex. However, the study focuses on a specific population o f the elderly. This study examines the way in which marital status affects self rating o f health and a feeling o f well-being and whether the relationship holds up to variations in age, sex, income, and social support. The other study in which control variables were found to be important, is Roger’s (1995) analysis o f the relations between marital status and length o f life to compare individuals who died in 1986 and those who survived the year. Results from this study indicated that although marriage can provide some protection from premature death, this is more likely within marriages with high income. A healthy and secure lifestyle within a marriage for people with higher income is more likely than others without. 1.2 Theoretical Perspective In this research ,widowhood is viewed as an instance o f role redefinition. Much o f the literature views widowhood and retirement as instances o f role loss (Shanas, 1972, Hendricks & Hendricks, 1986). Mathews's study considers the concepts o f "roleless status" or "role loss" inappropriate in explaining the basis o f responses to widowhood and factors related to it. Within the symbolic interactionist perspective, (Goffman,1959) rather than role change forming the basis o f identification, redefinition is considered a more useful concept. In stepping into a different marital status, the incumbent redefines his/her identity rather than merely responding to it. In accordance with Mathew, this research takes the theoretical position that widowhood forces the person to redefine his/her status and role. Some o f the role adjustment may involve loss, but not necessarily so. Other social and demographic factors, such as age, income level, sex and support from others, 6 may become forces that influence individuals to behave in certain ways, and redefine their role within a new status o f widowhood. This study hopes to investigate the effect o f marital status on health and happiness under different social, demographic and economic situations. In particular the study will address the following research questions: 1. Does being married, widowed, divorced, or never married affect the way in which people rate their health and well-being? 2. Does this effect change for men and women, under the social situations with different levels o f social support, income and for different age groups? These questions are based on the assumption that people living in groups are more likely to experience healthier and happier lives than those who do not. People in marital unions are therefore expected to report better health and to be happier than widows/widowers and single people. However, other factors like sex, age, income and social support may off-set these relationships. The negative effects o f widowhood on health and well-being might be lessened when there is high income or high social support, a situation that Rosenberg (1968:131) calls specification mode o f elaboration. Alternatively, a control for age represents an inquiry about spuriousness. From past research, we know that age is related to health and well-being. Will widowhood be correlated to health and well-being with age controlled? Rosenberg (1968:5) calls such a situation spuriousness mode o f elaboration. 1.3 Methods D ata for this analysis were gathered by the General Social Surveys conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University o f Chicago, from 1972 through 1993. The Universe consists o f the total non-institutionalized English speaking population o f the United States aged eighteen years and above. The sampling techniques and procedures 7 used comprise both probability and modified probability sampling, with the latter introducing a quota element at the block level. Only the data from the 1985 survey have been used for this particular study, because only this survey included the right combination o f variables required for the study. The survey generated a total o f 1530 responses. Results reported were generated by cross tabulation between health and happiness and marital status controlling for age, sex income, and social support. Also reported are results o f regressing health and happiness on marital status, age, income social support and sex. For this latter aspect o f the analysis, marital status and sex were reduced to dummy variables with the following categories used: married =1, not married =0, widowed =1, not widowed =0, separated=l not separated=0, single =1, not single =0, and for sex, male=l female=0. 1.4 Measurement of the Variables. For purposes o f cross-tabulation analysis only, the variables have been re-coded as follows: (a) Dependent Variables: (i) Health. The Survey question used to assess self-rated health condition was, "Would you say your own health, in general, is excellent, good, fair or poor?" Responses were re-categorized as 'good' (excellent and good), fair and poor. (ii) Happiness Responses to the question; "Taken all together, how would you say things are these days ... would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy or not too happy? Original response labels have simply been reworded, happy, somewhat happy, and unhappy, as used in tables 6 through 10. 8 (b) Independent Variables (i) Marital Status: The question was, "Are you currently-married, separated, or have you never been married?" Responses have been regrouped into married, widowed, separated and single. The separated category comprises both the divorced and the separated while the single comprises the never married. W here numbers within each o f these sub-categories were too small to allow a meaningful statistical analysis, complementary analysis with marital status dichotomized into married and unmarried was used. This latter is considered only supplementary because it undermines the main purpose o f this study, that is, analyzing the effect o f widowhood. (c) Control Variables (i) _Age Age was regrouped into two, i.e., young for under 65, and old for those aged 65 years and above in accordance with the customary retirement age. (ii) Sex Respondents’ gender was noted and coded into 1= Male and 2= Female. (iii) Income To assess their income level, respondents were asked, "In which o f these groups did your total family income, from all sources, fall last year before taxes, that is? Just tell me the letter." The range was from under $1,000 to $50,000 or over. In this analysis the categories are as follows: Under $1,000 to $9,999 is lower income, low level from $10,000 to $24,999 and from $25,000 to $50,00 or over constitutes mid-high income. The last category was based on 9 convenience only and may not match conventional categorization o f income in the US as o f the eighties. (iv) Social Support Social support measure for this study was based on a single item derived from responses to the question on social networks. "From time to time, most people discuss important matters with other people. Looking back over the last six months - who are the people with whom you discussed matters important to you? Just tell me their first names or initials". The responses were categorized as follows: No name mentioned was operationalized as representing low level o f support. One or two names mentioned were indicative o f medium level o f support and three or more names mentioned were taken to indicate high level o f support. 10 CHAPTER 2 RESULTS. The analysis is meant to tell the basic story about how scores on self-rated health and well being are associated with marital status. The results, are expected to answer a question o f whether widowed people rate their health and happiness differently from single, separated, widowed or married people. By controlling for the listed control variables, age, sex, income and social support, it has been possible to observe to what extent the initial relationship is affected. Table 1 shows the zero-order association o f marital status and health while table 6 cross-tabulates marital status and a feeling o f well-being. Tables 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 through 10 show results in first-order conditional tables as a result o f controlling for age, sex, income and social support. Further analysis engaging multiple regression analysis (table 11), was meant to ascertain the amount o f impact made by individual independent variables, as well as their combined effect, on health and happiness. 2.1 Self-rated Health and Marital Status. Results on the relationship between self-rated health and marital status (Table 1), show that compared with single, separated and married respondents, the widows and widowers are less likely to rate their health positively. Only 53% o f the widowed report that their health is "good" compared to 78% o f the married, 69% o f the separated and 87% o f the singles. Conversely 16% o f the widowed reported their health as poor, and this is more than twice the proportion o f married and eight times the proportion o f the single respondents reporting poor health. The chi-square value o f 79.8, highly significant for 4 degrees o f freedom, suggests that marital status does play an important role in influencing respondents' self-rated health. The value o f the contingency coefficient (0.22), leads us to consider this a genuine relationship. 11 T able 1 : P ercen tage D istrib u tion o f the R esp on d en t's E valuation o f th eir H ealth by M arital Status P E R C E N T AGE I) I S T R I H 1 ’ T I O N No Control H ealth N o. o f C o u n ts Total M a rrie d M idow ed S e p a ra te d Single Total 1530 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % G ood 1160 76 78 53 69 87 Fair 269 18 16 32 21 11 Poor 1 0 1 7 6 16 10 2 C lti.s q - 79.8* C .C = .22 N -1530 N =869 N =160 N -2 3 3 N =268 Source: 1985 G SS D ata C hi.sq= C hi-square V alue at 4 degrees o f freedom. C.C= C ontingency Coefficient. P'.05 2.2 The Effects of Control Variables The next set o f analyses examines the effects o f controlling for various variables on the above relationship. The question w e want answered is whether the relationship between marital status and self-reported health and happiness, will withstand the test o f other factors in the respondents' lives. (a) AGE The pattern o f the relationship between health and marital status changes somewhat when age is controlled. Table 2 shows that a remarkably high proportion (more than 80%) o f 12 T able 2 : Percentage D istribution o f the R espondents' E valuation o f their H ealth by M arital Status controlling for age P E R C E N T At.3 E D I S T R I B U T I O N Control: Age H ealth No. o fC o u n tts T o tal M a rrie d W idow ed S e p a ra te d ■Single • 6 5 Total 910 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % G ood 784 8 6 8 8 60 76 90 F air 104 11 16 2 0 19 9 Poor 2 2 2 2 .0 2 0 5 0.4 C lii.st).- 28.1* C .C = 0.17 N = 910 N =523 N=-5 N ” 152 N ; 230 65 ‘ T otal 428 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % G ood 278 65 6 8 52 61 6 8 F air 103 24 2 2 35 24 18 Poor 47 1 1 9 13 15 14 C hi.sq.=7.5 C .C =0.13 N =426 N =286 N--54 N - 6 6 N 22 Source : 1985 O SS D ata p .05 the younger (<65), married and single respondents are more likely to rate their health as, good, compared to older (<65 ), married and single respondents. Younger widows and widowers are also more likely to report being healthier compared to older ones. The highly significant initial chi-square value is also drastically reduced in both age partials to non-significance suggesting the null hypothesis be accepted that health and marital status are unrelated. The initial contingency coefficient (0.22) is also greatly reduced in both parties. Looking at the effect o f older age group, it is evident that, in fact, as expected, the quality o f reported health decreases with age. It is further evident that the strength o f the relationship between health and marital status is greatly reduced, (the contingency coefficient drops from 0.22 to 0.17 for the under 65 group and 0.13 for those aged 65 and over). The results suggest an important role that age plays in this relationship. That is, 13 controlling for age "explains away" most o f the impact o f marital status. Results o f a multiple regression analysis (Table 11), confirms this pattern. The results show that age has the greatest impact on health and that both separated and widowed statuses do not have significant independent effects, b) SEX In controlling for sex we want to answer the question, “Does the relationship between the respondent’s marital status ad the way in which he/she rates his/her health differ by sex o f the respondent?” Results o f the analysis in table 3 show that the respondent’s sex makes little difference in the relationship. T able 3: Percentage D istribution o f the R espondent's Evaluation o f their H ealth by M arital Status C ontrolling for Sex 1 > E R C E N T A G E D I S T R I B U T 1 O N C ontrols: Sex H ealth No. ol'C ounts Total M arried W idowed Separated Single M ale Total 687 100% 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % G ood 259 37 78 47 67 8 6 Fair 111 16 16 37 2 0 12 Poor 47 7 7 17 13 2 Chi.si|.---30.3* C .C = 0.21 N =687 N 433 N--30 N -7 5 N 149 Fem ale Total 843 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% G ood 631 75 79 54 70 8 8 Fair 158 19 17 31 2 2 10 Poor 54 7 4 15 8 2 C b i.si|, 52.8 C.C --0.24 N=843 N "436 N 130 N 158 N 119 Source: 1995 G SS D A TA P .05 For both male and female respondents the chi-square remains significant, suggesting that the null hypothesis (that health self-rating and marital status are unrelated, even when sex is held constant), should be rejected. This result should however be read with the 14 understanding that some o f the cell frequencies were smaller than five, making the chi- square test an unreliable measure. Further analysis with marital status categorized into married and unmarried, confirms a significant effect that marital status has on health evaluation even when sex and other variables are controlled. The pattern o f a relationship between these tw o variables in the zero order analysis is essentially maintained. O f all the four marital groups, widows and widowers are the least likely to rate their health positively relative to married, separated and single respondents. Although the strength o f this relationship seems to be slightly stronger for female respondents, for both groups the contingency coefficient is sufficiently high, implying that we should consider the relationship important for either sex group. (c) Income Turning to the effect o f controlling for income level, it is evident that income level per se, does not change the observed marital status and health rating relationship pattern. Across all four income levels, the widowed respondents are consistently less likely to report positive evaluation of health (relative to their married, separated and single peers). Within the lower income level, the differences between marital groups are not as pronounced as is the case in the other two income levels. The values o f both the Chi-square and Contingency Coefficient, suggest that the effect o f marital status on health is stronger and more significant for people with lower income level, relative to others. Reading the percentages vertically (effect o f income on health for different marital groups), offers clues to this pattern. Among married separated and single persons, improvement in income is highly related to better health. For example, among married persons, 86% o f those in higher income categories report good health versus only 58% o f the same group with lower income. But for the widows reporting good health improves only slightly from 15 lower to higher income. As a result differences in health by marital status are greatest in the high income partial. T able 4 : Percentage D istribution o f the R espondent's Evaluation o f their H ealth by M arital Status C ontrolling for Income P F R C E N T A G E DIS T R I B U T I O N C ontrols Incom e H ealth No. O f C ounts Total M arried W idow ed Separated Single Lowest Total 320 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % G ood 189 59 58 45 51 57 F air 89 28 27 39 31 13 Poor 42 13 16 11 19 0 Chi.sq. 34.9* C .C = 3 1 N = 320 N =83 N =82 N =85 N =70 M edium T otal 488 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % Good 366 75 79 67 77 83 Fair 44 9 21 21 2 2 12 Poor 28 6 6 13 1 5 C hi.sq.=11.03* C.C= 0.15 488 N 275 N =39 N=81 N--93 M ed iu m -H ig h G ood 216 8 6 8 6 57 87 94 Fair 25 1 0 11 43 3 6 Poor 1 0 4 4 0 10 0 Chi.sq 14.63* C .C = 24 251 N 180 N =7 N=31 N =33 Source: 1995 G SS D ata p- .05 16 (d) Social Support Generally speaking, the level o f support available to the respondents does not appear to change the way in which marital status affects their health. Throughout the three levels o f support, widows are consistently more likely to rate their health less positively relative to married, separated and single respondents. Under conditions o f low social support, the chi-square is not significant, suggesting that for the people with low level o f support, health and marital status are unrelated. However this is no d o u b t, due to the small number for low social support (N= 132). The contingency coefficient remains close to the 0.22 observed in the zero-order association table (being even higher for low support level group). A comparison o f married and non-married people (not shown), shows no difference in good health reporting for those with medium and high levels o f support. Social support does benefit all four groups. For example, 60% o f the widows with high support report good health versus only 45% o f widows with low support T able 5: Percentage D istribution o f the R espondent's Evaluation o f their H ealth by M arital Status controlling for Social Support PE R C E N T A G E D 1 S T R I D E T 1 O N Controls H ealth N o o f C ounts Total M arried W idow ed Separated Single SU PPO R T Total 132 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 Low G ood 77 77 62 45 50 83 Fair 31 31 2 0 36 23 11 Poor 24 24 18 18 27 6 Chi.sq 9.8 C .C -0 .2 6 N =132 N- 55 N .33 N 26 N ~T 8 17 Table 5 (continued) P E R C E N T A G E D I S T R I B U T I O N C ontrohSupport H ealth No. o f Counts T otal M arried W idow ed Separated Single M edium Total 463 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % M edium G ood 323 70 73 47 6 8 78 F air 105 23 19 37 26 19 Poor 35 8 7 16 6 3 Chi.sq. 22..2* C.C=0.21 N =463 N =264 N =62 N =68 N 69 M edium -H igh G ood 757 81 83 60 73 91 Fair 133 14 14 25 18 8 Poor 42 5 3 14 9 1 Chi.sq. 42.5* C .C =0.209 N =932 N =549 N =63 N = 139 N = IK1 Source: 1985 G SS D ata p<.05 2.3 The Feeling of Well-being and Marital Status The sample responded to the question: " Taken all together, how would you say things are these days... would you say you are very happy, pretty happy or not too happy?" The responses are cross-tabulated with marital status (table 6). Compared to widowed, separated and single respondents, married people are more likely to describe themselves as happy, with separated people as the least likely to report being happy, followed by the single and the widowed. The amount o f variation between marital groups is however quite low. Overall, respondents are less likely to be either happy or unhappy than pretty happy. 18 This analysis points to a relationship between positive rating o f well-being and married status i.e. married people are more likely to report happiness than single, separated and widowed people. The statistically significant chi-square value o f 80.3 leads us to accept that such a relationship does exist. These types o f results have been reported in earlier studies (Verbugge, Gove, Hughes, Rogers). As in the case o f self-rated health, this relationship was elaborated by controlling for age, sex income, and social support. Table 6 : Percentage D istribution o f the R espondent's E valuation o f their W ell-being by m arital Status P E R C E N T A G E D 1 S T R I B L' T I O N N o Controls H A PPIN ESS No. O f Counts Total M arried W idowed Separated Single Total 1530 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % H appy 438 29 34 28 15 25 Som ew hat 918 60 59 56 6 ! 65 U nhappy 174 11 7 17 26 10 Chi.Sq. = 80.3* C .C = .22 N =1530 N =870 N =160 N =233 N -2 6 7 Source: 1995 G SS D ata p- .05 (a) Effect of Controlling for Age Older (>65) married respondents are more likely than widowed, separated or single respondents to describe their emotional status positively. For both age groups, the chi-square remains significant. For both age groups, the value o f the contingency coefficient is very close to the original value (0.22) for the zero-order association, suggesting a slight improvement in the strength o f the initial relationship. Here again the chi-square value may give misleading interpretation due to the size o f the individual cell 19 frequencies. Results o f the supplementary analysis involving a dichotomous categorization the marital status, (again not shown), confirm that a significant relationship between marital status and health does exist, even when age is controlled. T able 7 : Percentage D istribution o f the R espondents’ Evaluation o f their W ell-being: by M arital Status C ontrolling for Age P E R C E N T D I S T R I B U T I O N Cntrols: Age W ell-Being No. o f C o u n ts T otal M arried W idowed Separated Single <65 Total 911 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % H appy 243 27 31 40 13 27 Som ew hat 576 63 63 2 0 63 64 Unhappy 92 10 6 40 24 10 Chi.sq. = 60.6* C .C =0.25 N = 9 1 1 N = 524 N=5 N =152 N =230 65+ Total 428 1 0 0 °o 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 °o 1 0 0 °o 1 0 0 °b H appy 138 32 40 19 18 14 Som ew hat 232 54 51 57 59 77 Unhappy 58 14 1 0 24 23 9 C h i.sq . = 2 9 .3 * C .C = 0.25 N =428 N = 286 N =54 N= 6 6 N =22 Source: 1985 G SS D ata p<.05 (b) Effect of Controlling for Sex As in the case o f health self-rating, controlling for sex does not affect the observed relationship between a person’s marital status and how she/he rates his/her well-being. For the four marital groups, a higher percentage o f respondents are more likely to report being somewhat happy rather than reporting being either happy or unhappy. Being a separated or single male seems to affect happiness more adversely than it does a separated or single female. 20 It might be postulated that single men report unhappiness in greater proportions than single women because they might be older, have lower social support, lower income and poorer health. In consideration o f all these postulates, further analysis o f the data on single men was done. The results (not shown here) indicate that, on the contrary, most single men report good health, belong to middle income, are younger and report having high level o f social support. Earlier discussion about social support showed the interaction between a separated status and low level o f support to be detrimental to the respondents’ well-being. So it would appear that factors beyond the scope o f this particular analysis may be responsible for the higher ratings o f unhappiness among single and separated men. The results further suggest a pattern o f a positive relationship between being married and a feeling o f well-being regardless o f the respondents’ sex. Comparisons within the widowed group shows the percentage o f widows who report being happy, to be almost twice (30% ) that o f widowers (17% ). Based on this specific comparison, it can be said that widowhood seems to hit men harder than it does women. T able 8 : Percent D istribution o f the R espondents' Evaluation o f their W ell-being by M arital Status C ontrolling for Sex P E R C E N T A Cl F. D I S T R I B U T I O N C ontrohSex Happiness N o o f C o u n ts Total M arried W idow ed Separated Single M ale T o ta l 6 8 8 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % H appy 2 0 0 29 33 17 15 26 Som ew hat 410 60 60 70 52 61 Unhappy 78 11 7 13 33 13 Chi.sq. = 5 1 .4 * C .C = .26 N= 6 8 8 N =434 N 30 N ~75 N- 1 4 9 21 Table 8 (continued) P E R C E N T A G E D I S T R I B U T I O N C ontrol: Sex H appiness No. o f C o u n ts T o tal M arried W idow ed Separated Single Fem ale Total 842 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % H appy 2 3 8 39 34 30 15 23 Som ew hat 50 8 60 58 52 65 70 U nhappy 9 6 1 1 8 18 2 0 7 Chi.s<j.= 4-1.7* C .C = 0.23 N =842 N =436 N =130 N =158 N =118 Source: 1985 G SS D ata (c) Effect of Controlling for Income Except for single respondents, people with high income are more likely to report being happy compared to those in middle and low income brackets. When marital groups are compared, the original pattern remains basically intact. Married people are the most likely to report being happy, and the separated the least likely to respond that way. However the chi-square is reliable only for middle and higher income levels. Contingency coefficients for all three levels is close to that observed in the total association. This can be taken to suggest that for all income groups, marital status is an important determining factor for happiness. For all the three income levels, most people reported being neither happy nor unhappy, but rather somewhat happy. Within this category, a higher proportion (over 60% ) o f the respondents was the single in all income levels. 22 T able 9 : Percentage D istribution o f the R espondents’ E valuation o f their W ell-being: bv M arital Status C ontrolling for Incom e P E R C E N T A G E D I S T R I B U T I O N Controls: Incom e H appiness No. o f C ounts Total M arried W idowed Separated Single T o ta l 3 1 9 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % Low er H a p p y 74 23 31 26 1 2 25 S o m ew h at 182 57 49 560 54 67 IJn h n p p y 63 2 0 19 15 34 9 Chi.sq. = 23.9* C .C = 0.26 N = 319 N=83 N =82 N =85 N =69 Low T o ta l 488 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % H a p p y 123 25 29 26 14 23 S o m ew h at 313 64 64 54 6 7 6 8 U n h a p p y 52 11 7 21 2 0 10 Chi.sq. 1 21.05* C . 0 0 . 2 0 N “488 N =275 N 39 N =81 N -93 M id-H igh T o ta l 251 1 0 0 % 1005 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % H ap p y 78 31 34 29 19 24 S o m ew h at 147 59 59 43 58 61 U n h a p p y 26 10 7 9 23 15 C hi.sq.= 12.7* C .C =0.22 N -2 5 1 N =180 N “ 7 N=31 N -3 3 Source: 1985 G SS D ata p<.05 (d) Effect of Controlling for Social Support Separated people are the least likely marital group to report happiness, followed by the single and the widowed. This pattern is particularly evident for the group reporting low level o f support. However, under conditions o f medium support, the widowed score the 23 same as the married. The low support group presents a particularly exceptional case with fully 50 percent reporting unhappy. For this group, the contingency coefficient has increased from 0.22 (in the zero-order tabulation), to 0.45. This illustrates an interaction effect, specifying the conditions under which marital status strongly influences a feeling o f well-being. This point will be discussed further under a section on multiple regression analysis. T able 10 : Percentage D istribution o f tile R espondent's Evaluation o f their W ell-being: by M arital Status C ontrolling for Social Support. P E C E N T A G E D I S T R I B Li T 1 O N C ontrol: Support H A PPIN ESS No. o f Counts Total M arried W idowed Separated Single Low T o ta l 133 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % H ap p y 32 24 39 18 8 11 S om ew hat 78 59 55 67 42 78 U iilm ppy 23 17 5 15 50 11 C hi.sq.= 33.97* C . O 0.4S1 N =133 N =56 N -3 3 N =26 N =18 M edium T o ta l 932 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % H a p p y 1 2 0 13 29 29 12 26 S o m ew h at 551 59 58 46 63 64 U n h ap p y 97 1 0 6 24 2 0 11 Chi.sq. 16.28* C .C = 0.185 N =932 N -549 N =63 N T 39 NM81 M edium -H igh T o ta l 932 1 0 0 % 1005 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % 1 0 0 % H ap p y 284 30 36 30 17 25 S o m ew h at 551 59 58 46 63 64 U n h ap p y 97 10 6 24 2 0 11 C h i.s q .-49.13* C .C = 0.22 N =932 N 549 N 63 N =T39 N - 181 Source: 1985 G SS D ata p<.05 24 CHAPTER 3 MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS RESULTS. The fore-going analysis has allowed examinations o f the effect o f marital status on health and happiness when selected variables, believed to affect the relationship, are controlled. This analysis can, however, be considered only preliminary because: (i) in controlling for one variable, the effect o f various other actors impinging on the dependent variable have not been ruled out, (ii) it does not permit examination o f the simultaneous effects o f more than one independent variables on the dependent variable. Table 11 shows results o f self-rated health and happiness regressing age, sex, income, social support. Table 11 : Un-standardized and Standardized Regression Coefficients of the Model for the Health and Well-being Determinants in the 1985 GSS Data Dependent Variable = Poor Health INDEPENDENT VARIABLES Un-Standardized: Intercept Widowed Separated Single Age Female Income Support R-sq. (1.32) 0.07 0.08 -0.11* 0.27* -0 .0 3 -0.07* -0.07* 0.11 Stdized: (0.03) (0.06) (-0.08) (0.22) (-0.03) (-0.03) (-0 .0 8 ) Dependent variable-Unhappiness Un-Standardized: Intercept Widowed Separated Single Age Female Income Support (2.06) 0.29* 0.32* 0.06 -0.04 -0.01 -0.03 -0.05 Stdized: (0.10) (0.21) (0.04) (-0.04) (-0.01) (-0.06) (-0.05) Source 1985 G SS D ata . p<.05<.05 25 Results o f multiple regression procedure (Table 11), show that independent variables entered into the first model account for 11% o f the variation in health, leaving 89% o f the variance unexplained. Standardized scores show that o f the non-marital variables included in the model, age has the greatest effect on poor health followed by single status and social support. Unstardardized regression coefficients show that an additional year in age adds about 0.27 o f a unit o f deterioration in a person's health, while income and social support affect health positively. Adding a thousand dollars to a person's annual income improves his/her health by 0.07 o f a unit. An additional person to the pool o f those the respondent may discuss matters important to them, also improves their health by about 0.07 o f a unit change in health. Being a female adds about 0.03 o f a unit in positive self rating o f health. With regard to marital variables, the results seem to refiite those generated by the cross-tabulation analysis. Whereas results o f the cross-tabulation showed widowhood as often having a significant effect on health, according to regression analysis results, widowhood has a significant effect only on unhappiness. These results suggest that widowhood is a relatively weak predictor o f health. However, I would like to propose a different hypothesis involving intervening links (rather than spurious links) between widowhood and health, under conditions o f the control variables. According to this thesis, with widowhood often comes a loss o f friends and reduced income. Both are frequently reported to affect health adversely. In table 12 we observe the diminishing effect o f widowhood on health with addition o f each o f the control variables. The results illustrate the intervening links with income and social support. When regressed on well-being, the variables account for only 6% o f the variation. A unit change in social support and income brings about an improvement in happiness (all significant at .05). Results in both table 11 show that relative to being married, widowhood and separation predict unhappiness. In order to pursue the apparent 26 interaction between single status and low level o f support, a product term was computed in which separated marital status was treated as a dummy variable (separated =1, not- separated = 0). When the product term was introduced into the regression model for happiness, a highly significant1 slope o f 0.26 ( not shown in the table) was obtained. This finding offers a strong support o f the initial analysis in the cross-tabulation, depicting separated people with low social support as the least happy. Compared to their separated counterparts, the position o f the widows refutes the unhappy widow hypothesis when only the low support data are considered. Statistically speaking additional year in age ( Table 11) improves the feeling o f well-being by about 0.04 o f a unit in well-being, (-0.04 On unhapiness) but this is not significant. So, unlike the case with health, age seems to have insignificant but positive effect on happiness. Table 12 Unstandardized Regression Coefficients: Relative Effect of Individually Introducing the Independent Variables into the Marital Status and Health/ Happiness Relationship Model. Effect on Poor Health Widowed Separated Single R-sq. Variable 0.36* 0.14* 0.12* 0.045 Added: Age 0.22* 0.15* -0 .0 4 0.08 Female 0.22* 0.15 -0 .0 4 0.08 Income 0.08 0.09 -0.12* 0.10 Support 0.07 0.08 -0.11* 0.11 1 Significance = 0.05 27 Table 12 (continued) Effect on Unhapiness W idowed Separated Single R.sq. 0.16* 0.36* 0.12* 0.05 Variable Added: Age 0.34* 0.36* 0.20* 0.05 Female 0.34* 0.36* 0.10 0.05 Income 0.29* 0.33* 0.06 0.06 Support 0.29* 0.32* 0.06 0.06 Source: 1985 G S S D ata. P<.05. Table 12 demonstrates how the effect o f marital status on health and happiness is affected by adding a number o f control variables into the regression model. For health, the addition o f age, the effect o f widowhood on health more than doubles (from 0.16 to 0.34) and remains significant. This result illustrates a suppression effect excerted by age on the relationship. The implication here is that age, rather than marital status per se, influences the way in which people rate their health. Adding the female gender also leaves the health and widowhood relationship significant but renders the relationship between health and single status and health and separated status non-significant. This suggests that marital status affects the evaluation o f health differently for male and female respondents. When income and social support are added, the effect o f widowhood becomes non-significant implying the intervening link noted earlier in the report. 28 CHAPTER 4 Discussion & Conclusion. Results from analysis o f the 1985 General Social Survey, confirm some o f the findings in earlier studies about the role o f marital status differences in health for the US population. Cross-tabulation results show that single and married people are about equally more likely to report good health relative to widowed and separated people. Previous studies ( Umberson et al 1992, Lopata 1973, Ferrero et al 1984) have shown that widowhood is associated with higher levels o f morbidity and depression. One o f the factors that may cause morbidity is the different physical risks people experience and the different propensities to perceive symptoms. As a form o f marital change, widowhood may prove more stressful than divorce or separation, because o f the circumstances surrounding such change. W idows may therefore report higher levels o f ill-health and decreased feeling o f well-being. Earlier studies have also suggested loss o f income and loss o f companionship as factors likely to contribute to ill-health among widowed people. Following Berkman (1969), as a group, the spouseless are more frequently and persistently confronted with life events and situations that threaten their desires, goals and values, causing them psychological stress. Further, in contrast with their married counterparts, the younger widowed bear sole responsibility for child rearing and everything this entails. On the other hand, the results o f this study are not in complete congruence with earlier research on the subject, which shows that married people are healthier compared to either single and widowed people. Gove (1972), found a great disparity in health status between being married and being single (or widowed and divorced). He concludes that being married is more advantageous for health than not being married. Our crosstabulation results show that married and single people are about equally likely to report good health, the separated are close behind and the widowed least likely to report good health. 29 Controlling for age, being female, income and social support taken one at a time offers some insight into our understanding o f the mechanism by which marital status affects health. With age entered as a control (test for spuriousness), the relationship with widowhood is partially explained away and is slightly improved for the separated, but remains significant for both, while relationship with single status loses significance, (table 12). Adding female gender affects the relationship in that the effect o f both the separated and single status becomes insignificant. With the additional control o f income viewed as intervening link, the marital-health relationship is no longer significant except for single status which has a significant positive effect on health (-0.12* on poor health). Adding social support also makes the marital-health relationship insignificant. In both cases, widowhood is seen as leading to a loss o f income and support, which in turn leads to poorer health. With all the variables entered (table 11), the regression analysis results show that relative to being married, widowed and separated statuses do no have significant effect on poor health, while single status has significant adverse effect on poor health. Standardized regression coefficients show (as also noted in the literature) that age has the greatest negative impact on health (table 11). Being female has no significant effect. With regard to happiness, married people are more likely to report happiness followed by widowed and single people, with separated people coming last. This finding has not supported the expectation that widowed people would be the least likely to report happiness, relative to married separated and single people. On the other hand, the results are consistent with what has been reported in the literature about the positive contribution o f marriage to happiness o f spouses. Controlling for age and income leaves this pattern largely intact but for the apparent interactive effects o f the separated status and low support already noted. With all the variables entered, the regression analysis shows that 30 both separated status and widowhood continue to have a significant adverse effect on happiness. Contrary to the significant negative effect o f age on health, age does not appear to affect the way in which people in different marital statuses report their feeling o f well-being. In fact excluding age from the happiness regression model changes the individual regression coefficients insignificantly. Here again sex does not appear to have a significant effect, disputing the oft cited gender difference in physical and emotional fitness. The results do support a hypothesis that age, income, social support and to a very little degree gender, affect the way in which people in different marital groups describe their health. This pattern is not replicated in the analysis o f self -rating o f happiness, where more separated people than others, appear to report unhappiness, particularly under conditions o f low levels o f social support. Results o f the regression analysis confirm these observations. Some o f the findings, found in this study to be incongruent with major trends in mainstream literature, may in part be due to the limited scope o f the sample, (only the 1985 data were considered in this study). One possible explanation for the persistence o f positive reporting o f health by married respondents could be the quality o f marital relationships that most o f them may be enjoying. Isolating the happily married respondents from the others may yield a different response pattern. This is a possible line for a follow-up research on this topic. The apparent lack o f a correlation between happiness and health status in this study is interesting. According to the W .H.O's definition, health is not simply a matter o f physical well-being, but it also involves social and emotional well-being. In this study, people who report good health are not necessarily also reporting happiness. Results in this study suggest that people may not necessarily view health according to the W .H.O definition. 31 References: Anderson R. & O.W .Anderson 1979 “Trends in the Use o f Health Services” in Freeman, S. and Reeds (eds) Handbook o f Medical Sociology 3rd edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ B lauZ . 1961 "Structural Constraints o f Friendship in Old Age” . American Sociological Review. 26. 429-439. Berkman, P.L 1969 "Spouseless M otherhood, Psychological Stress and Physical Morbidity” Journal o f Health & Social Behavior. Vol. 10. Berardo, F.M 1987 Social Adaptation to W idowhood Among Rural-Urban Aged Population. Washington State University. Bowling and Cartwright 1982 Life After Death. Tavistock Publications, London, N.Y. Cleary P., D. Mechanic and R. Greenly 1982 “ Sex Differences in Medical Care Utilization: An Empirical Investigation” Journal o f Health and Social Behavior. 23:106-119 Ferarro, F.K et al 1984 "Widowhood, Health, and Friendship Support in Later Life". Journal o f Health and Social Behavior" Vol. 25. G offm anE. 1961 Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation o f Mental Patients and Other Inmates. Chicago: Aldine. G oveW .R . 1972 "Sex, Marital Status and Suicide". Journal o f Health and Social Behavior Vol. 13. 32 Gove W and Hughes M, 1979 “ Possible Causes o f the Apparent Sex Differences in Physical Health: An Empirical Investigation. American Sociological Review. 44:126-146. Hendricks, J. & Hendricks C.D. 1986 Aging in Mass Society . 3rd ed. Cambridge, M.A: Winthrop. Lopata, H. 1973 W idowhood in an American City. Schenkman Publishing Co. Inc. Lowenthat, M.F and Haven C. 1968 "Interaction and Adaptation: Intimacy as a Critical Variable". American Sociological Review Vol. 33:20-30. M athews A.M. 1991 W idowhood in Later Life. Butterworths Canada Ltd. Marcus, A.C., and T.E Seeman 1981 “Sex Differences in Reports o f Illness and Disability: a Preliminary test o f the ‘Fixed-Role-Obligation’ Hypothesis,” Journal o f Health and Social Behavior, 22:174-182. Nathanson, C. 1977 “ Sex, Illness, and Medical Care: A Review o f Data, Theory, and M ethod” Social Science and Medicine. 9: 57-62. Nelson, Sarah M. 1988 "W idowhood & Autonomy in the Native American Southwest" in Scadron (ed.) 1988, On their Own. University o f Illinois Press. Chicago. Renne, K.S. "Health and Marital Experience in an Urban Population". Journal o f M arriage and Family Vol. 33 No. 2. Rogers,R. 1995 “ M arriage Sex and Mortality” . Journal o f Marriage and the Family V ol.57, 515-526. 33 Rosenberg, M. 1968 The Logic o f Survey Analysis. Basic Books, Inc. Shanas, E. et al. 1972 Old People in Three Industrial Societies. New York. Atherton. Stroebe, W.S. & and Stroebe M .S. 1987 Bereavement and Health: The Psychological and physical Consequences o f Partner Loss. Cambridge University Press. New York. Umberson, Derba et al, "W idowhood and Depression: Explaining long-term Gender Differences in Vulnerability" Journal o f Health and Social Behavior. 1992, vol. 33. V erbuggeL.M . 1983 “ Multiple Roles and Physical Health o f Women and Men” J journal o f Health and Social Behavior 24:16-30. W aldron I. 1981 “ Why Do Women Live Longer?” Sociology o f Health and Illness. Conrad P. Kern R. (Eds) St Martins Press, New York. W aldron I. 1983 “ Sex Differences in Illness Incidence, Prognosis and Mortality: Issues and Evidence” Social Science and Medicine. 17:1107-1123. 34

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Cross-Sectional And Longitudinal Effects Of Parental Divorce On Parent-Adult Child In-Person Contact

PDF

Determinants Of Neonatal And Postneonatal Mortality: The Case Of Malawi, 1992

PDF

An analysis of nonresponse in a sample of Americans 70 years of age and older in the longitudinal study on aging 1984-1990

PDF

Money Makes The World Go 'Round: Mother-Custody Families And Downward Mobility

PDF

Gender-biased education investment intention among Chinese rural parents: A glimpse into the intra-household resource allocation process

PDF

Dissonance in the population -environment movement over the politics of immigration: Shifting paradigms of discourse vis -a -vis individual rights and societal goals

PDF

A Study Of The Relationships Between Religious Affiliation, Religious Practices And Marital Adjustment

PDF

Perceptions of equality and inequality by people in both dominant and subordinate social locations

PDF

The Effects Of Social Security Programs On Fertility Levels

PDF

Bondage and discipline, domination and submission, sado-masochism (BDSM): partnerships, couples, and health outcomes

PDF

A Study Of Relationships Between Occupational And Marital Roles And Marital Adjustment

PDF

Social Class And Attitudes Toward Sexually Oriented Materials

PDF

Cultural Continuity And Discontinuity In Adolescent Socialization

PDF

The impact of family structure and family process on adolescent sexual behavior: race and gender variations

PDF

Organization, Conflict, And Change: A Test Of A Multivariate Model Within Two Types Of Simulated Social Systems

PDF

The Effects Of Generation, Religion, And Sex On The Relationship Of Family Vertical Solidarity And Mental Health In Lebanon

PDF

The Revolt Of Gonzalo Pizarro: Peru, 1544-1548

PDF

Incarceration And A Sense Of The Rules: Strategy Differences Among Juveniles

PDF

Bam: An Innovative Change Model--Barriers Encountered In The Implementation Of A Classical Research Design To Modify The Behavior And Attitude Of Staff And Inmates In A Correctional Institution

PDF

Changing patterns of interracial marriages of Asian Indians in California

Asset Metadata

Creator Shale, Mamochaki Martha (author)

Core Title Health And Well-Being By Marital Status: The Effect Of Age, Sex, Income And Social Support. Study Of 1985 Gss Data

Degree Master of Science

Degree Program Sociology - Applied Demography

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,sociology, individual and family studies,sociology, public and social welfare

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Heer, David M. (committee chair), Biblarz, Timothy J. (committee member), Ransford, H. Edward (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-9497

Unique identifier UC11357791

Identifier 1378433.pdf (filename),usctheses-c18-9497 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 1378433-0.pdf

Dmrecord 9497

Document Type Thesis

Rights Shale, Mamochaki Martha

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA