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Mortality after spousal loss: are there socio-demographic differences?

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  • Manor, Orly
  • Eisenbach, Zvi

Abstract

This study evaluates the effect of spousal death on mortality among Israeli adults and examines differences in this effect by duration of bereavement, age, sex, education, ethnic origin, household size, and number of children. Data are taken from the Israel Longitudinal Mortality Study which is based on a linkage of records from a 20% sample of the 1983 census to records of deaths occurring during the period 1983-1992. The study population comprised 49,566 men and 41,264 women, of whom 4,402 (9%) and 11,114 (27%), respectively, were bereaved during the follow-up period. Excess mortality among the bereaved was evident among both men and women, especially after bereavement of short duration. During the first 6 months, the excess mortality was about 50% among women and about 40% among men. For men, the effect of bereavement on mortality decreased linearly with age, with a relative risk of 3 among younger men during early widowhood. Bereavement had a greater impact on the more educated men. The effect of bereavement did not vary by ethnic origin or household size.

Suggested Citation

  • Manor, Orly & Eisenbach, Zvi, 2003. "Mortality after spousal loss: are there socio-demographic differences?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 405-413, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:56:y:2003:i:2:p:405-413
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    Cited by:

    1. Jon Anson, 2010. "Beyond Material Explanations: Family Solidarity and Mortality, a Small Area‐level Analysis," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(1), pages 27-45, March.
    2. 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.
    3. J Robin Moon & Naoki Kondo & M Maria Glymour & S V Subramanian, 2011. "Widowhood and Mortality: A Meta-Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(8), pages 1-9, August.
    4. 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.
    5. Espinosa, Javier & Evans, William N., 2013. "Maternal bereavement: The heightened mortality of mothers after the death of a child," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 371-381.
    6. Eran Shor & David Roelfs & Misty Curreli & Lynn Clemow & Matthew Burg & Joseph Schwartz, 2012. "Widowhood and Mortality: A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 49(2), pages 575-606, May.
    7. Tseng, Fu-Min & Petrie, Dennis & Leon-Gonzalez, Roberto, 2017. "The impact of spousal bereavement on subjective wellbeing: Evidence from the Taiwanese elderly population," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Kung, Claryn S.J., 2020. "Health in widowhood: The roles of social capital and economic resources," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    9. Peña-Longobardo, L.M. & Rodríguez-Sánchez, B. & Oliva-Moreno, J., 2021. "The impact of widowhood on wellbeing, health, and care use: A longitudinal analysis across Europe," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    10. Yang, Fang & Gu, Danan, 2021. "Widowhood, widowhood duration, and loneliness among older adults in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    11. van den Berg, Gerard J. & Drepper, Bettina, 2018. "A Unique Bond: Twin Bereavement and Lifespan Associations of Identical and Fraternal Twins," IZA Discussion Papers 11448, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Zhang, Yuxin & Brockett, Patrick, 2020. "Modeling stochastic mortality for joint lives through subordinators," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 166-172.
    13. Paola Pizzetti & Matteo Manfredini, 2008. "“The shock of widowhood”? Evidence from an Italian population (Parma, 1989–2000)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 85(3), pages 499-513, February.

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