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Premature mortality among lone fathers and childless men

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  • Ringbäck Weitoft, Gunilla
  • Burström, Bo
  • Rosén, Måns

Abstract

This study focuses on male family situation and premature mortality. For a total of 682,919 men, we analysed mortality from different causes (1991-2000) among lone fathers, with and without custody of their children, and among childless men, with and without partners. Long-term cohabiting fathers with a child in their household were used as comparison group. We employed data from Swedish censuses, national health-data registers, and a Swedish register containing information about known biological relations between children and parents. We investigated the extent to which different kinds of relations were influenced by varying socioeconomic circumstances between groups, and also processes of health selection. The results suggest that lone non-custodial fathers and lone childless men face the greatest increase in risks, especially from injury and addiction, and also from all-cause mortality and ischaemic heart disease. Being a lone custodial father also entails increased risk, although generally to a much lesser extent, and not for all outcomes. The elevated risks found in all the subgroups considered diminished substantially when proxy variables to control for health-selection effects and socioeconomic circumstances were added to the initial model. Risks fell most in response to introduction of the socioeconomic variables, but health selection also played a major role, mostly in the cases of lone non-custodial fathers and lone childless men. However, even following these adjustments, significant risk increases, although greatly attenuated, remained for all the subgroups.

Suggested Citation

  • Ringbäck Weitoft, Gunilla & Burström, Bo & Rosén, Måns, 2004. "Premature mortality among lone fathers and childless men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(7), pages 1449-1459, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:59:y:2004:i:7:p:1449-1459
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Linda Kridahl & Ann-Zofie Duvander, 2021. "Are Mothers and Daughters Most Important? How Gender, Childhood Family Dissolution and Parents’ Current Living Arrangements Affect the Personal Care of Parents," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Gettler, Lee T. & Rosenbaum, Stacy & Bechayda, Sonny Agustin & McDade, Thomas W. & Kuzawa, Christopher W., 2024. "Men's physical health and life history transitions in the Philippines: Evidence for ‘marital selection’ but not protective effects of partnering and fatherhood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    3. Mansdotter, Anna & Lindholm, Lars & Winkvist, Anna, 2007. "Paternity leave in Sweden--Costs, savings and health gains," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 102-115, June.
    4. Olga Gouni & Gabija Jarašiūnaitė-Fedosejeva & Burcu Kömürcü Akik & Annaleena Holopainen & Jean Calleja-Agius, 2022. "Childlessness: Concept Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-45, January.
    5. Caroline Gatrell & Jamie J. Ladge & Gary N. Powell, 2022. "A Review of Fatherhood and Employment: Introducing New Perspectives for Management Research," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1198-1226, July.
    6. Robin S. Högnäs & David J. Roelfs & Eran Shor & Christa Moore & Thomas Reece, 2017. "J-Curve? A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression of Parity and Parental Mortality," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 36(2), pages 273-308, April.
    7. Grundy, Emily & Kravdal, Øystein, 2010. "Fertility history and cause-specific mortality: A register-based analysis of complete cohorts of Norwegian women and men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1847-1857, June.
    8. Netta E. Mäki & Pekka T. Martikainen, 2008. "The Effects of Education, Social Class and Income on Non-alcohol- and Alcohol-Associated Suicide Mortality: A Register-based Study of Finnish Men Aged 25–64," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 24(4), pages 385-404, December.
    9. Emma Fransson & Sara Brolin Låftman & Viveca Östberg & Anders Hjern & Malin Bergström, 2018. "The Living Conditions of Children with Shared Residence – the Swedish Example," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(3), pages 861-883, June.

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