Marital Status, Partnership and Health Behaviour: Findings from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS)
Numerous empirical studies have confirmed that married people have a lower risk of morbidity and mortality than unmarried people. However, there is relatively little existing research on the impact of marital status and partnerships on the health behaviour of elderly people in Europe. This study exa...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Federal Institute for Population Research
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Comparative Population Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.comparativepopulationstudies.de/index.php/CPoS/article/view/289 |
| _version_ | 1819144038318604288 |
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| author | Regina Hilz Michael Wagner |
| author_facet | Regina Hilz Michael Wagner |
| author_sort | Regina Hilz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Numerous empirical studies have confirmed that married people have a lower risk of morbidity and mortality than unmarried people. However, there is relatively little existing research on the impact of marital status and partnerships on the health behaviour of elderly people in Europe. This study examines the association between partnership status and health-related behaviour among the German population in the second half of life (aged 40-85). We focus on four indicators of health behaviour: smoking, physical activity, body weight, and health check-ups. The data used in the analysis come from the 2008 (n=6,205) and 2014 (n=6,002) waves of the German Ageing Survey (DEAS). We applied logistic regression models with average marginal effects (AME).
The results of our analysis are in line with the findings of previous studies, which indicated that being married has a protective effect on smoking and a negative effect on body weight. Crisis effects are found to be limited primarily to smoking by recently widowed people. Our study provides new empirical insights into the extent to which being married has protective effects on the use of health care, as people who are separated, divorced, or never married are found to be less likely to have regular health check-ups compared to married people. Furthermore, our results for physical activity are contrary to previous findings for younger adults, according to which being married is associated with a lower likelihood of participating in physical activities. The results of the data analyses show that at ages 40 and older, unmarried individuals, especially those who are not in a partnership, are at higher risk of physical inactivity than their married counterparts. Our findings on marital status and partnership status therefore demonstrate that being married is strongly associated with positive health behaviours. The results may be useful for designing health programmes or prevention measures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T12:35:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e9e3996ad9db4a4d9d21438bcb961ddf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1869-8980 1869-8999 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T12:35:47Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | Federal Institute for Population Research |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Comparative Population Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-e9e3996ad9db4a4d9d21438bcb961ddf2022-12-21T18:25:35ZengFederal Institute for Population ResearchComparative Population Studies1869-89801869-89992018-07-01430155Marital Status, Partnership and Health Behaviour: Findings from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS)Regina Hilz0Michael Wagner1University of CologneUniversity of Cologne Institute of Sociology and Social PsychologyNumerous empirical studies have confirmed that married people have a lower risk of morbidity and mortality than unmarried people. However, there is relatively little existing research on the impact of marital status and partnerships on the health behaviour of elderly people in Europe. This study examines the association between partnership status and health-related behaviour among the German population in the second half of life (aged 40-85). We focus on four indicators of health behaviour: smoking, physical activity, body weight, and health check-ups. The data used in the analysis come from the 2008 (n=6,205) and 2014 (n=6,002) waves of the German Ageing Survey (DEAS). We applied logistic regression models with average marginal effects (AME). The results of our analysis are in line with the findings of previous studies, which indicated that being married has a protective effect on smoking and a negative effect on body weight. Crisis effects are found to be limited primarily to smoking by recently widowed people. Our study provides new empirical insights into the extent to which being married has protective effects on the use of health care, as people who are separated, divorced, or never married are found to be less likely to have regular health check-ups compared to married people. Furthermore, our results for physical activity are contrary to previous findings for younger adults, according to which being married is associated with a lower likelihood of participating in physical activities. The results of the data analyses show that at ages 40 and older, unmarried individuals, especially those who are not in a partnership, are at higher risk of physical inactivity than their married counterparts. Our findings on marital status and partnership status therefore demonstrate that being married is strongly associated with positive health behaviours. The results may be useful for designing health programmes or prevention measures.http://www.comparativepopulationstudies.de/index.php/CPoS/article/view/289Marital statusPartnershipProtection effectHealth behaviourGerman Ageing Survey |
| spellingShingle | Regina Hilz Michael Wagner Marital Status, Partnership and Health Behaviour: Findings from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) Comparative Population Studies Marital status Partnership Protection effect Health behaviour German Ageing Survey |
| title | Marital Status, Partnership and Health Behaviour: Findings from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) |
| title_full | Marital Status, Partnership and Health Behaviour: Findings from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) |
| title_fullStr | Marital Status, Partnership and Health Behaviour: Findings from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Marital Status, Partnership and Health Behaviour: Findings from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) |
| title_short | Marital Status, Partnership and Health Behaviour: Findings from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS) |
| title_sort | marital status partnership and health behaviour findings from the german ageing survey deas |
| topic | Marital status Partnership Protection effect Health behaviour German Ageing Survey |
| url | http://www.comparativepopulationstudies.de/index.php/CPoS/article/view/289 |
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