IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v16y2007i15.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does cancer affect the divorce rate?

Author

Listed:
  • Astri Syse

    (Folkehelseinstituttet (Norwegian Institute of Public Health))

  • Øystein Kravdal

    (Universitetet i Oslo)

Abstract

Discrete-time hazard regression models were employed to register and census data on 1.4 million Norwegian married couples from 1974-2001 to explore the probability of divorce following cancer illness. Divorce rates for around 215 000 persons diagnosed with cancer were compared to divorce rates for persons for whom all the other observed variables were the same. No overall harmful influence of a cancer diagnosis was observed. Most cancer forms resulted in small, immediate declines in divorce rates the first years following diagnosis. Exceptions were significant increases in the divorce rates for persons diagnosed with cervical and testicular cancer.

Suggested Citation

  • Astri Syse & Øystein Kravdal, 2007. "Does cancer affect the divorce rate?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 16(15), pages 469-492.
  • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:16:y:2007:i:15
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2007.16.15
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol16/15/16-15.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2007.16.15?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lee Lillard & Linda Waite, 1993. "A joint model of marital childbearing and marital disruption," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 30(4), pages 653-681, November.
    2. Becker, Gary S & Landes, Elisabeth M & Michael, Robert T, 1977. "An Economic Analysis of Marital Instability," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(6), pages 1141-1187, December.
    3. Northouse, Laurel L. & Mood, Darlene & Templin, Thomas & Mellon, Suzanne & George, Tamara, 2000. "Couples' patterns of adjustment to colon cancer," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 271-284, January.
    4. Joung, Inez M. A. & van de Mheen, H. Dike & Stronks, Karien & van Poppel, Frans W. A. & Mackenbach, Johan P., 1998. "A longitudinal study of health selection in marital transitions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 425-435, February.
    5. Waldron, Ingrid & Hughes, Mary Elizabeth & Brooks, Tracy L., 1996. "Marriage protection and marriage selection--Prospective evidence for reciprocal effects of marital status and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 113-123, July.
    6. Lee Lillard & Constantijn Panis, 1996. "Marital status and mortality: The role of health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 33(3), pages 313-327, August.
    7. Gunn Elisabeth Birkelund & Johan Heldal, 2003. "Who marries whom? Educational homogamy in Norway," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 8(1), pages 1-30.
    8. Goldberg, Richard J. & Cullen, Leah Oseas, 1985. "Factors important to psychosocial adjustment to cancer: A review of the evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 20(8), pages 803-807, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Solveig Glestad Christiansen & Øystein Kravdal, 2023. "Union Status and Disability Pension," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-19, December.
    2. Jeon, Sung-Hee & Pohl, R. Vincent, 2017. "Health and work in the family: Evidence from spouses’ cancer diagnoses," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-18.
    3. Yati Afiyanti & Ariesta Milanti, 2013. "Physical sexual and intimate relationship concerns among Indonesian cervical cancer survivors: A phenomenological study," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 151-156, June.
    4. Christiaan W. S. Monden & Wilfred J. G. Uunk, 2013. "For Better and for Worse: The Relationship Between Union Dissolution and Self-Assessed Health in European Panel Data," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 103-125, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Shuai, 2019. "Marriage, minorities, and mass movements," Other publications TiSEM 9cb1b11d-12e6-46a8-adca-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Bünnings, Christian & Hafner, Lucas & Reif, Simon & Tauchmann, Harald, 2021. "In sickness and in health? Health shocks and relationship breakdown: Empirical evidence from Germany," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 164-190.
    3. Ostermann, Jan & Sloan, Frank A. & Taylor, Donald H., 2005. "Heavy alcohol use and marital dissolution in the USA," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(11), pages 2304-2316, December.
    4. Wilson, Chris M. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2005. "How Does Marriage Affect Physical and Psychological Health? A Survey of the Longitudinal Evidence," Economic Research Papers 269622, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    5. Svarer, Michael, "undated". "Determinants of Divorce in Denmark," Economics Working Papers 2002-19, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    6. Sebastian Franke & Hill Kulu, 2018. "Mortality Differences by Partnership Status in England and Wales: The Effect of Living Arrangements or Health Selection?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 34(1), pages 87-118, February.
    7. Requena, Miguel & Reher, David, 2021. "Partnership and mortality in mid and late life: Protection or selection?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    8. Hilke Brockmann, 2012. "Ungesunde Verhältnisse?: Eine Längsschnittanalyse zur Gesundheit von Kindern in zusammen- und getrenntlebenden Familien," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 503, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    9. Michelle Sheran Sylvester, 2007. "The Career and Family Choices of Women: A Dynamic Analysis of Labor Force Participation, Schooling, Marriage and Fertility Decisions," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 10(3), pages 367-399, July.
    10. G. Miller & Yuriy Pylypchuk, 2014. "Marital Status, Spousal Characteristics, and the Use of Preventive Care," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 323-338, September.
    11. Bellido, Héctor & Molina, José Alberto & Solaz, Anne & Stancanelli, Elena, 2016. "Do children of the first marriage deter divorce?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 15-31.
    12. Lorenzo Todesco, 2011. "A Matter of Number, Age or Marriage? Children and Marital Dissolution in Italy," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 30(2), pages 313-332, April.
    13. Averett, Susan L. & Sikora, Asia & Argys, Laura M., 2008. "For better or worse: Relationship status and body mass index," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 330-349, December.
    14. Aiva Jasilioniene, 2007. "Premarital conception and divorce risk in Russia in light of the GGS data," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2007-025, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    15. Daniele Vignoli & Anna Matysiak & Marta Styrc & Valentina Tocchioni, 2018. "The positive impact of women’s employment on divorce: Context, selection, or anticipation?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(37), pages 1059-1110.
    16. Lehrer, Evelyn L, 1996. "Religion as a Determinant of Marital Fertility," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 9(2), pages 173-196, May.
    17. Roos, Eva & Burström, Bo & Saastamoinen, Peppiina & Lahelma, Eero, 2005. "A comparative study of the patterning of women's health by family status and employment status in Finland and Sweden," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(11), pages 2443-2451, June.
    18. Daniel Avdic & Arizo Karimi, 2018. "Modern Family? Paternity Leave and Marital Stability," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 283-307, October.
    19. Espinosa, Javier & Evans, William N., 2008. "Heightened mortality after the death of a spouse: Marriage protection or marriage selection?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1326-1342, September.
    20. Artazcoz, Lucia & Cortès, Imma & Borrell, Carme & Escribà-Agüir, Vicenta & Cascant, Lorena, 2011. "Social inequalities in the association between partner/marital status and health among workers in Spain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(4), pages 600-607, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    divorce; Norway; cancer; illness; marital stability; cervical cancer; testicular cancer;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:16:y:2007:i:15. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.