Health in Household Context: Living Arrangements and Health in Late Middle Age

Abstract

People living in some arrangements show better health than persons in other living arrangements. Recent prospective studies document higher mortality among persons living in particular types of households. We extend this research by examining the influence of household structure on health using longitudinal data. We theorize that individuals experience role-based household relations as sets of resources and demands. In certain household structures, individuals are more likely to perceive that the demands made on them outweigh the resources available to them. This perceived imbalance poses a risk to individual health. We test our expectations by analyzing the relationship between living arrangements and health using data from waves 1 and 2 of the Health and Retirement Study. We focus on persons ages 51-61 and explore gender differences. We find prospective links between household structure and self-rated health, mobility limitation, and depressive symptoms. Married couples living alone or with children only are the most advantaged; single women living with children appear disadvantaged on all health outcomes. Men and women in other household types are disadvantaged on some health outcomes. Our results suggest that the social context formed by the household may be important to the social etiology of health. In addition, they qualify the well-known link between marital status and health: The effect of marital status on health depends on household context.In June 2000 the Human Genome Project completed a preliminary map of human genetic structure. To many observers, this remarkable achievement heralded a new era of gene-based understanding of health and illness. Yet the same week that researchers at the National Institutes of Health presented the genomic sketch, the Institutes held a major conference highlighting evidence that health depends on socially-generated environments and experiences that transcend individual biology. Clearly, deciphering human genetic code is not sufficient for understanding health and illness. Progress on biological substrates of disease needs to go hand in hand with similar progress by social scientists on the social etiology of health and illness.

Under one roof: The effect of co-residing with adult children on depression in later life

“…More frequent contact with children as well as emotional and instrumental support from co-residing children may help older parents maintain higher levels of physical and mental functioning in older ages (Glaser et al, 2004;Roll & Litwin, 2010;Zunzunegui et al, 2001). Our findings suggest that these benefits may not be outweighed by the potential increase in conflict between children and older parents living together, or by the potential loss of autonomy and independence among parents who live with their adult children (Hughes & Waite, 2002;Lang & Schutze, 2002;Silverstein et al, 1996). This is of particular importance at a time when multi-generational living arrangements have increased as a result of the Great Recession and its aftermath (Kaplan, 2012), a pattern that may have increased contact with children and paradoxically improved parent's mental health.…”

“…More frequent contact with children may reduce symptoms of depression in older age (Buber & Engelhardt, 2008), but co-residing with adult children may also increase conflict between children and older parents, and lead to a loss of autonomy and independence in older age (Hughes & Waite, 2002;Lang & Schutze, 2002;Silverstein, Chen, & Heller, 1996). This relationship may be crucial to understanding the increasing burden of old-age depression in ageing societies.…”

Posición en el hogar y género. Desigualdades en la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud entre la población adulta en España

“…Entre los diversos determinantes de la salud analizados, nuestro interés se centra en explicar las desigualdades de salud mediante el hogar (Joutsenniemi 2007;Hughes y Waite 2002), entendido como un contexto común de convivencia pero también como un espacio de diferenciación en relación con los recursos, responsabilidades y oportunidades sociales de sus miembros. En este sentido, la posición en el hogar define el lugar del individuo, no solo en relación con su estructura (hogar unipersonal, hogar pluripersonal), sino también en relación con su situación en el núcleo o núcleos familiares del hogar (como miembro de la pareja, como padre o madre emparejados, como hijo/a, como madre o padre monoparental, fuera de un núcleo familiar).…”

Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Household Position and Health in Twelve European Countries: Are They Associated with the Value Climate?

“…Whereas living with a partner enhances each partners' health status, the termination of a union typically has a short and medium term negative effect on health, due to the disappearance of the protecting factors and the erosion of mental health associated with the process of the worsening of a couple's relationship and the subsequent separation (Waldron et al 1997;Hughes and Waite 2009). In new partnerships, the positive health levels of the first union are often not regained (Hughes and Waite 2002;Martikainen et al 2005). Psychological distress preceding divorce as a consequence of the worsening of the relationship between both partners appears to be more prevalent among women, whereas after-divorce depression symptoms appear to be stronger and more long-lasting among men (Williams and Umberson 2004;Rotermann 2007).…”

“…More recently the concept of marital status has expanded to include household arrangements at the meso-level which compile information about the interplay of individuals with other family members within the context of the same household (see also publications from the "Families And Societies" project). Members of a household share the same social and economic situation (Cherlin 2000;Stevenson and Wolfers 2007), and they have to negotiate their division of paid and unpaid work (Hughes and Waite 2002). Micro-level factors such as education and income, however, not only directly impact health but also shape the gender relationships in a household.…”