Health Differences Between Married Men and Women: The Contribution of Sex-Role Stereotyping

Compared with married men, married women are nearly twice as likely to suffer from psychiatric disorder, although they have only half the annual mortality rate until about age 75, and their life expectancy is nearly 7 years greater. It is argued that sex-role stereotyping contributes substantially to these major health differences between men and women. Some contemporary social and psychological factors that reinforce sex-role stereotyping are discussed, together with some proposals for countering these.     

Social determinants of life expectancy]

"Life expectancy and mortality increasingly are analyzed in the context of social factors. This study analyzes the impact of social position, marital status, and religious confession on cohort life expectancy. The analysis is based on [German data from the] Socio-Economic Panel Survey, wherein proxy-interviewee's parents have been used to estimate cohort mortality. Results confirm a lower mortality risk of the upper classes and of married persons. However, as opposed to other studies, Catholics do not have a lower, but even a higher mortality risk." (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Labor force participation and fertility: a study of married women in Bangladesh

Most researchers support the notion that a direct negative relationship exists between married women's labor force participation and fertility behavior, yet female employment shows no consistent, general relationship with declining fertility at individual and societal levels. Specific conditions under which employment lowers fertility are therefore explored for the case of Bangladesh. The economic, sociological, and world-system theoretical approaches to the relationship and empirical studies in developing countries including Bangladesh are reviewed. 1975-76 Bangladesh Fertility Survey data on births, deaths, nuptiality, and family planning knowledge and practice for 5772 currently married women of 6513 ever married women under 50 sampled are subjected to multivariate analysis for the study. Analysis revealed that women's modern and traditional occupation as well as higher and secondary education significantly lower their fertility, and that higher age, Islamic religion, use of modern contraceptives, and husband's occupation in transitional and modern sectors have significant positive effects on fertility. The correlation between higher fertility and contraceptive use may be due to women's delay in practicing family planning until reaching desired parity and/or high infant mortality driving women to cease practice in order to replace lost offspring. Future research should be conducted with larger samples and also consider occupations of both husbands and wives. Societal attitudes about women's education should be reformed in support of opening rural schools for women. With 90% of women residing in rural areas and women with traditional occupations having lower fertility, more traditional sector opportunities for women in cottage industry and agriculture production are also recommended, and would help balance skewed urban growth and hypertrophication of the tertiary sector. Finally, motivational efforts should be focused upon encouraging younger instead of older married couples to limit fertility.     

Women's Status,Fertility Decline,and Women's Health in Developing Countries: Direct and Indirect Influences of Social Status on Health

Abstract In the present three‐wave study of 72 developing countries, we use growth curves to examine how changes in fertility and level of fertility mediate the effect of women's social status on women's health as measured by infant mortality, maternal mortality, and female life expectancy. We find that level of female education, average age at marriage, and the percentage of married women using contraceptives influence attained level of fertility, with controls for economic growth and dependency status. Change in fertility, however, is predicted only by average age at marriage and by level of education. Change in fertility, in turn, predicts improvement in all three women's health indicators, while the level of fertility predicts improvement in maternal mortality and infant mortality. In addition to the mediating effects of fertility, both age at marriage and education contribute directly to reduced level of infant mortality; level of primary education contributes directly to reduced levels of maternal mortality; and use of contraceptives contributes directly to improvement in female life expectancy. These findings provide strong evidence that women's social status makes direct contributions to women's health which cannot be attributed to economic growth, dependency status, and/or the mediating effects of level and change in fertility. The policy implication for developing countries is that greater gains can be made in women's health, particularly maternal health, by improving women's social status, especially in rural areas.     

INFORMATION AND THE LIFE CYCLE CONSUMPTION OF HAZARDOUS GOODS

Safety is a major area of public concern. The fact that people take risky occupations, smoke or fail to use seat belts often provokes a regulatory response designed to either protect people from the risks directly or to provide them with more information on the hazards involved. Such policy is often based on the view that risk-taking behavior is irrational or ill-advised. This paper develops life cycle models of the decision to consume hazardous goods. A particular focus of the analysis is to consider the rational response to information about hazards. Rational consumption of a hazardous good is shown to depend on such factors as the nature of the hazard, age, life expectancy, age at which information on the hazard was received and, of course, the underlying value of the good itself.     

RISK BELIEFS AND SMOKING BEHAVIOR

We analyze smoking risk beliefs and smoking behavior using individual data from 1997 for the United States and 1998 for Massachusetts. Smokers and adults more generally overestimate the lung cancer risks of smoking and the mortality risks and life expectancy loss. Higher risk beliefs decrease the probability of starting to smoke and increase the probability of quitting among those who begin. Better educated smokers have lower and more accurate risk beliefs, but education decreases the probability of smoking. Higher state cigarette taxes correlate with risk beliefs but not with smoking status. The uninsured are especially likely to remain current smokers. ( JEL I12, I18, D80)     

Residential and Racial Mortality Differentials in the South by Cause of Death1

Abstract Mortality levels and differences by metropolitan-nonmetropolitan residence for blacks and whites are examined in the South using life-table techniques. Life tables are constructed for Southern subpopulations using U.S. vital statistics and census data for 1980, and differences in the life expectancies are decomposed by cause of death. Results suggest that life expectancy is higher for metropolitan and white populations. Racial mortality differences are slightly greater in metropolitan areas of the South when compared to the nonmetropolitan South. Residential mortality differences are attributable mainly to differences in the effects of heart disease and accidents. Most of the racial mortality difference is due to differences in effects of malignant neoplasms, cardiovascular disease, perinatal conditions, and homicide. Policy efforts aimed at specific causes of death in specific populations are suggested as a means of reducing racial or residential life expectancy differentials.     

Factors influencing infant/child mortality in Bangladesh: implication for family planning programs and policies

"This study examined a host of socio-economic and demographic factors (including their interactions) that determine infant/child mortality of married women at the different parity levels in Bangladesh [using data from] a multivariate analysis of the 1975-76 Bangladesh Fertility Survey.... The major hypothesis of this research is that the higher the level of fertility of a married woman, the higher will be her experience of infant/child mortality. However, a woman's family planning practice may interact with fertility and affect the total infant/child deaths...."     

Future mortality: a bumpy road to Shangri-La?

Americans are getting fatter, and it is known that increased obesity may increase the risk of death. Olshansky et al. have argued that this increase in obesity will likely slow, or even reverse, increases in life expectancy in the United States and perhaps save U.S. Social Security as a result. We discuss historical changes in the mortality rate and the reasons why other analyses argue that life expectancies will continue to increase. We also discuss the limitations of using single risk factors such as obesity as predictors of mortality risk. Finally, we explore the relation between risk factors and the long-term historical increase in human life expectancy.     

Mortality patterns among elderly American Jews

"Mortality studies of ethnic and religious subgroups within a nation are of interest as they provide indicators of health differentials that may result from differences in life style and risk-factor exposures. The mortality experience of North American Jews has been documented over many years and is of particular interest because of the unusual pattern that has been observed, a crossover from relatively low rates at younger ages to relatively high rates at older ages. This study examines mortality in 1979-81 among more than 100,000 Medicare enrollees who held 22 surnames common among American Jews. The findings substantiate those of a recent mortality study of a Canadian Jewish population which indicated more rapid improvement in life expectancy among elderly Jewish than non-Jewish males, and a lessening of the relative disadvantage of elderly Jewish women."     

Till Death Do Us Part: Marital Status and U.S. Mortality Trends, 1986 – 2000

Although the association of being married and a lower mortality rate has been well established, most previous research on marital status and mortality did not consider potential change in this relationship over time. In this study, I adopted a survey cohort perspective to examine both overall and cause‐specific mortality trends by marital status from 1986 to 2000 in the United States. On the basis of data from the National Health Interview Survey‐Longitudinal Mortality Follow‐up (N = 517,314), I found that mortality generally decreased or remained stable for the married from the 1986 to 2000 NHIS cohort, except for diabetes deaths. There is evidence showing divergent mortality trends between the married and unmarried, especially the widowed. Race and gender variations are examined.     

Life Expectancy, Schooling Time, Retirement, and Growth

I analyze how changes in life expectancy affect retirement age, education time, and growth rates of economies. I set up a continuous time, overlapping generations model of endogenous growth with externalities in human capital production. I find that increases in life expectancy give rise to first, higher retirement ages and second, higher education spans. A threshold level for life expectancy exists such that per capita growth rates follow an inverted U pattern.     

Meeting report--National Institute on Aging Workshop on the Comparative Biology of Aging

This Perspective is a summary of the Comparative Biology of Aging Workshop that was held in February 2002 by the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, MD. Participants discussed ways to exploit similarities and differences in aging among diverse species to learn more about critical factors that affect aging and regulate life expectancy in animals. The aim of the workshop was to stimulate new approaches to understanding the molecular bases for differences in aging rates and life expectancy among species.     

Cohabitation and U.S. Adult Mortality: An Examination by Gender and Race

This study is the first to explore the relationship between cohabitation and U.S. adult mortality using a nationally representative sample. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey‐Longitudinal Mortality Follow‐up files 1997–2004 (N = 193,851), the authors found that divorced, widowed, and never‐married White men had higher mortality rates than cohabiting White men, and never‐married Black men had higher mortality rates than cohabiting Black men. In contrast, the mortality rates of nonmarried White and Black women were not different from those of their cohabiting counterparts. The results also revealed that mortality rates of married White men and women were lower than their cohabiting counterparts and that these mortality differences tended to decrease with age. The authors found no significant mortality differences when they compared married Black men or women to their cohabiting counterparts. The identified mortality differences were partially—but not fully—explained by income, psychological, or health behavior differences across groups.     

Tradition and Change in Vietnamese Family Structure in the Red River Delta

One of the key features of Vietnamese family organization is patrilocality—the preference of married couples to coreside with the husband's parents. With data drawn from a retrospective survey of persons in 1,855 households in the largest province in the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam, we found that more than 75% of married respondents reported having lived with the grooms' family after marriage. The proportion of newly married couples that follow the patrilocal custom appears to have increased in recent decades, although the average duration of coresidence has declined. Some aspects of modernization, especially nonagricultural occupations and later age at marriage, contribute to a lower incidence of intergenerational coresidence, but the underlying cultural preference to live with the grooms' parents immediately after marriage appears to have become stronger in Vietnam. In contrast to some features of traditional family life that conflict with modernity, intergenerational coresidence can be quite functional in modernizing societies.     

Aging and inactivity—capitalizing on the protective effect of planned physical activity in old age

The paper discusses two parallel biocultural trends—aging and inactivity. The principle of economy in movement in modern society versus the dependency of human beings on movement for their development and health is described. The results of inactivity are sometimes mistakenly considered irreversible losses caused by aging, but in actual fact, inactivity accelerates the irreversible losses caused by the aging process. The paper then describes the contribution of physical activity in terms of increasing positive aspects or decreasing risks: increasing life expectancy or decreasing risk of mortality, increasing cardiovascular fitness or decreasing risk of cardiovascular disease, increasing muscle mass or decreasing falls and instability, improving cognitive performance or reducing cognitive decline and neurological disorders, and improving well-being or reducing depression. The optimal dose of physical activity is then described, followed by recommendations for further research on mechanisms determining physical activity behavior.     

Sociodemographic Determinants of Occupational Risks of Exposure to COVID‐19 in Canada

The activities performed by Canadian workers in some occupations may increase the risk of exposure to infectious diseases such as COVID‐19. This research note explores how occupational exposure risks vary by labor force characteristics using publicly available Canadian data in combination with a data set providing information on the level of physical proximity and frequency of exposure to infections or diseases faced by workers in different occupations. The results show important sociodemographic differences. First, women work in occupations associated with significantly higher average risks of exposure to COVID‐19 than men. This is driven by their overrepresentation in high‐risk broad occupational categories such as health occupations. Second, older workers (65 years or more), a group vulnerable to COVID‐19, appear to work in occupations requiring performing activities characterized by a lower level of physical proximity than their younger colleagues, with minimal differences in the frequency of exposure to diseases or infections. Finally, workers in low‐income occupations are employed in occupations that put them at greater risk of exposure to COVID‐19 than other workers. This is especially the case for women, immigrants, and members of visible minority groups in low‐income occupations. More broadly, this research note provides insights into the health‐related dimension of the literature on occupational tasks and labor market stratification.     

Quality of life of older people in Israel: a comparison between older people living at home who are members of a ‘supportive community’ and nursing home residents

The supportive community is a program that was developed in Israel for older people who live at home. The program provides its members with a service package that includes medical and social services, emergency call-button, cultural activities, and a ‘community parent’ who is responsible for the members. Using quantitative method, this study compared the level of quality of life between 55 older people living in their homes who are members of a supportive community (average age = 74.7) and 60 elderly people living in nursing homes (average age = 75.8). As expected, results indicate that quality of life among the older people living at their homes who are members of a supportive community was higher than among the older people living in a nursing home. In addition, the quality of life of married, educated, functionally independent older people in good health and with a good economic situation was higher. Predictor variables of quality of life were: the place of residence, health status, and age. In light of increased life expectancy and the growing need to care for the older population, the practical application of the study focused on a recommendation for the social services to continue the support community development program.     

Salesmen,Saleswomen, or Sales Workers? Determinants of the Sex Composition of Sales Occupations

This study examines determinants of occupational sex composition in an expanding area of the economy—sales occupations. We used census data to determine which worker and occupational characteristics predicted the percentage of women in sales occupations in 1980 and in 1990, and which variables contributed to changes in the percentage of women in sales occupations over time. Although sales occupations experienced a disproportionate decline in occupational sex segregation during the 1980s, we found that the same variables predicted the percentage of women in sales occupations in both 1980 and 1990. Average years of schooling, average hourly pay, the percentage of unemployed workers, and the percentage of self-employed workers influenced the percentage of female workers in sales occupations in 1980 and in 1990, both for cross-sectional and dynamic models. In addition, a worker characteristic index that combines percentage White, percentage married, and average age of workers shows surprising effects on the percentage of women in sales occupations. We discuss the implications of these findings for occupational sex segregation, and suggest that a multidimensional queuing perspective offers the most useful interpretation of our results.     

Impact of Economic Conditions and Crises on Mortality and its Predictability

To investigate how economic conditions and crises affect mortality and its predictability in industrialized countries, we review the related literature, and we forecast mortality developments in Spain, Hungary, and Russia—three countries which have recently undergone major transformation processes following the introduction of radical economic and political reforms. The results of our retrospective mortality forecasts from 1991 to 2009 suggest that our model can capture major changes in long-term mortality trends, and that the forecast errors it generates are usually smaller than those of other well-accepted models, like the Lee-Carter model and its coherent variant. This is because our approach is capable of modeling (1) dynamic shifts in survival improvements from younger to older ages over time, as well as (2) substantial changes in long-term trends by optionally complementing the extrapolated mortality trends in a country of interest with those of selected reference countries. However, the forecasting performance of our model is limited (like that of every model): e.g., if mortality becomes extremely volatile—as was the case in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union—generating a precise forecast will depend more on luck than on methodology and expert judgment. In general, we conclude that, on their own, recent economic changes appear to have minor effects on life expectancy in industrialized countries, but that the effects of these changes are greater if they occur in conjunction with other major social and political changes.