Cohort Differences in Older Adults’ Marital Status, Transitions, and Social and Mental Health

• In Event: 41009 - Singlehood and Mental Health

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Long-examined links between marriage and health emphasize marital status and the physical dimensions of health. This study expands current conversations by considering vastly under-studied never-married older adults, marital transitions, social and mental health dimensions, and cohort-specific marriage norms.

Methods: We analyzed four rounds of data from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) spanning 2005 to 2021. A series of linear regression models were used to examine the associations between marital status (currently, formerly, never married) and transitions (in and out of marriage), and dimensions of health (loneliness, happiness, depression), and moderation by cohort (the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers), respectively.

Results: Findings indicate that marriage indeed benefits health, but only for certain dimensions: transitions mattered for loneliness and, to some extent depression, whereas status mattered for happiness. Interestingly, Baby Boomers’ happiness is more strongly associated both with their marital status and transitions than it is with the Silent Generation. Next, never-married older adults comprise a population with unique experiences from other singles: they do not differ from their married peers in terms of happiness or depression; they are lonelier but not as lonely as those formerly married. Finally, never-married Baby Boomers were less depressed than those never-married in the Silent Generation.

Discussion: Explicit consideration of never-married older adults and cohort differences provide novel insights into long-studied marriage-health links. Specifically, the social context—marriage norms—in which older adults enter and experience marriage and any subsequent transitions continue to shape their social and mental health in later life.

Authors

• Rosie Ruoqi Zheng, Norc at the University of Chicago

• Ellen (Nell) Compernolle, NORC at the University of Chicago