Divorce and health in middle and older ages

• Published in: Review of economics of the household Vol. 17; no. 4; pp. 1081 - 1106
• Main Authors: Zulkarnain, Alice, Korenman, Sanders
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Couples; Divorce; Economic analysis; Economics; Economics and Finance; Gender differences; Health status; Households; Husbands; Illnesses; Labor Economics; Marriage; Married couples; Men; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental health; Microeconomics; Population Economics; Remarriage; Retirement; Social Sciences; Wives; Divorce; Couples; Aging; Fixed effects; Mental Health; J12; I12; J14; Self-Reported Health; Remarriage
• ISSN: 1569-5239; 1573-7152
• DOI: 10.1007/s11150-018-9435-z

The prevalence and incidence of divorce at older ages have doubled since 1990. We use Health and Retirement Study data to describe associations between divorce, remarriage and health in middle and later life, following individuals and couples through divorce and remarriage in models with individual or couple fixed effects. At middle and older ages, divorce is more often associated with adverse physical and mental health changes for women than for men. Remarriage is associated with a restoration of health and depression to pre-divorce levels for men and women. However, men are more likely to remarry. Evidence from couple models suggests that for husbands, but not wives, remarriage may be associated with less depression than the baseline marriage. Differences in self-reported health associated with divorce appear linked to (diagnosed) mental health conditions among wives and physical health conditions among husbands.