The Health Impact of Marital Disruption on Men and Women in Mid-Life

Megan Beckett, RAND

Prior research suggests that marital dissolution increases risk of poor health compared with remaining married, and that health effects may be concentrated in period immediately following marital dissolution (at least for widowhood). Previous work suffers number of limitations, including failure to statistically test for gender differences, applying bereavement effect hypothesis to divorce, and accounting for differential mortality selection. This paper examines 2- and 4-year health effects of divorce and widowhood on mid-life men and women using 4 waves from the Health and Retirement Survey. I regress W3-W4 change in health outcomes on W1-W2 and W2-W3 change in marital status. Preliminary work is inconsistent with bereavement (applied to widowhood) effect for men and women. Divorce within the past 2 years is advantageous to men's (but not women's) health; these effects are not seen for divorce 3 to 4 years. I test the robustness of these findings when considering for mortality selection.