How is mortality affected by money, marriage, and stress?

Publication type

Journal Article

Authors

Publication date

June 1, 2004

Abstract:

It is believed that the length of a person’s life depends on a mixture of economic and social factors. Yet the relative importance of these is still debated. We provide recent British evidence that marriage has a strong positive effect on longevity. Economics matters less. After controlling for health at the start of the 1990s, we cannot find reliable evidence that income affects the probability of death in the subsequent decade. Although marriage keeps people alive, it does not appear to work through a reduction of stress levels. Greater levels of psychological distress (as measured by General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) stress scores) cannot explain why unmarried people die younger. For women, however, we do find that mental strain itself is dangerous. High GHQ stress scores help to predict the probability of an early death.

Published in

Journal of Health Economics

Volume

Volume: 23 (6):1181-1207

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2004.03.002

Subjects

Notes

Judi

Albert Sloman Library Periodicals *restricted to Univ. Essex registered users*

#511931

News

Latest findings, new research

Publications search

Search all research by subject and author

Podcasts

Researchers discuss their findings and what they mean for society

Projects

Background and context, methods and data, aims and outputs

Events

Conferences, seminars and workshops

Survey methodology

Specialist research, practice and study

Taking the long view

ISER's annual report

Themes

Key research themes and areas of interest