Educational differences in all-cause mortality by marital status

Large and Growing Social Inequality in Mortality in Norway: The Combined Importance of Marital Status and Own and Spouse's Education

“…On the one hand, it might be argued that a person with high education would have sufficient resources so that additional resources or support from a spouse would matter relatively little. This idea accords with the findings reported by Kohler et al (2008). On the other hand, one could argue that persons with high education would benefit more from marriage because they are more likely to have a better-educated spouse.…”

Socioeconomic disparities in lung cancer mortality in Belgian men and women (2001-2011): does it matter who you live with?

“…We chose educational attainment as an indicator related to knowledge and lifestyle. Educational attainment can be measured early in lifetime, thereby unaffected by later changes in health status and is thus a relatively stable measure [ 5 , 13 , 16 , 20 , 32 , 40 – 42 ]. Furthermore, it is available for almost everyone in the population [ 20 , 40 , 42 ].…”

“…An additional advantage is that it is an SEP measure that is related to many other social and economic factors (e.g. labor market outcomes, income, social class, cognitive abilities, health behaviors, life chances) [ 5 , 13 , 16 , 32 ]. Education thus represents a fundamental cause of health disparities because it provides people with a set of assets that allow them to avoid health risks on the one hand and to accumulate health advantages over the lifetime on the other [ 32 ].…”

“…Notwithstanding their own educational attainment, men profit from the bond with a well-educated partner in terms of lung cancer mortality outcomes, whereas for women this association was less consistent. Higher educated wives probably have a protective effect on the lung cancer mortality risk of their partner because of both behavioral and socio-emotional resources [ 5 , 20 , 26 , 30 – 32 , 42 ]. The socio-emotional resources that a steady relationship provides are more important for men, because they may be less likely to receive these resources through other social relationships [ 32 ].…”

“…The presence of a partner is a particularly important dimension. Several studies observed a positive effect of being married on health [ 11 , 12 , 20 ]; overall mortality [ 5 , 10 , 21 – 27 ] and cancer mortality [ 4 , 22 , 28 – 30 ]. To explain this effect, social selection theory refers to a selection of healthier persons into the married state; whereas social causation theory refers to a protective effect of marriage through the provision of social and economic support and pooled knowledge [ 4 , 11 , 12 , 20 , 21 , 24 – 28 , 31 ].…”