Long-standing racial differences in US life expectancy suggest that black Americans would be exposed to significantly more family member deaths than white Americans from childhood through adulthood, which, given the health risks posed by grief and bereavement, would add to the disadvantages that they face. We analyze nationally representative US data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (n = 7,617) and the Health and Retirement Study (n = 34,757) to estimate racial differences in exposure to the death of family members at different ages, beginning in childhood. Results indicate that blacks are significantly more likely than whites to have experienced the death of a mother, a father, and a sibling from childhood through midlife. From young adulthood through later life, blacks are also more likely than whites to have experienced the death of a child and of a spouse. These results reveal an underappreciated layer of racial inequality in the United States, one that could contribute to the intergenerational transmission of health disadvantage. By calling attention to this heightened vulnerability of black Americans, our findings underscore the need to address the potential impact of more frequent and earlier exposure to family member deaths in the process of cumulative disadvantage.race | life expectancy | bereavement | family | disparities

No abstract

Prior research based on studies of heterosexual populations suggests that men's health benefits more from marriage than women's, in part because women do more than men to influence the health habits of their spouse. We extend this work by using dyadic survey data from 838 spouses in 419 gay, lesbian, and heterosexual marriages to consider differences in social control tactics across same-sex and different-sex couples-that is, how spouses monitor and regulate each other's health habits. Results suggest that although gender differences in social control are common, gendered patterns sometimes differ depending on whether one is in a same-sex or different-sex marriage. Results also point to the importance of health habits as strong drivers of relationship dynamics across gay and lesbian as well as heterosexual marriages.

About half of all Americans have one or more serious health conditions at any given time (Ward, Schiller, and Goodman 2014). When significant illness or injury occurs, it is a shared experience for spouses with consequences for the patient, their spouse, and the marriage. Past research shows that within heterosexual marriage, men and women react to a spouse's illness in gendered ways. For example, compared to men, women provide more emotional support and physical care for an ill spouse and experience more stress from providing this care (Pinquart and Sorensen 2006; Thomeer, Reczek, and Umberson 2015). Yet prior research is limited in that it focuses only on heterosexual couples and typically considers only one spouse's perspective. In the present study, we draw from a gender-asrelational perspective (Springer, Hankivsky, and Bates 2012) to argue that social constructions of illness and interactions around illness unfold differently for men and women in same-sex marriages than in different-sex marriages. Based on this framework, we analyze in-depth interview data from both spouses in gay, lesbian, and heterosexual marriages to consider how men and women in same-sex and different-sex marriages (90 spouses in 45 marriages) understand their own illness as well as their spouse's illness. We pay particular attention to the ways that perceptions of illness shape care work (i.e., the emotional and physical work of caring for a partner), expectations for care, and illness-related stress. We bridge literatures on gendered social constructions of the illness experience, gendered experiences of illness within 671570H SBXXX10.

Investigating how midlife same-sex and different-sex spouses care for each other during a spouse's health event expands understandings of gendered aging experiences within marriage. Findings can elucidate health policies and clinical strategies that best support the health of men and women in same- and different-sex marriages.