Marital Dissolutions and the Health of Older Individuals in a Rural African Context.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Research from high-income countries has often found a negative relationship between marital dissolutions and health. This paper assesses that relationship among older sub-Saharan Africans, on a now-aging continent. Such individuals are likely to be at risk of a dissolution, or have already experienced one, due to high rates of marriage.

Methods

Data from over 1,200 rural Malawians, age 45+, are employed from the 2008 and 2010 waves of the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health. Cross-sectional and lagged dependent variable regressions examine the relationship between marital dissolutions and 4 measures of self-reported health: retrospective health, relative health (compared with others in one's village), and age-standardized SF-12 mental and physical hea

SUBMITTER: Myroniuk TW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5927165 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature