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

Myroniuk, Tyler W.

doi:10.1093/geronb/gbw077

Cited by 11 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Furthermore, the stigma associated with being formerly married, particularly widowed, may diminish as it become increasingly more common. These hypotheses reflect previous studies showing a weak negative correlation with those formerly married and physical health and no association with having recently been widowed or divorced (Myroniuk 2017). In addition, building on the work of Margolis and Myrskylä 2011, we expect that the benefits of having adult children will be more evident among older Malawians, although in contrast with Conzo, Fuochi and Mencarini (2017), we anticipate that the psychological gains will be as large, if not larger, for older women than for older men, given the high level of dependence of older women on adult children in Malawi.…”

Section: Hypothesessupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Cross-sectional analyses found a generally positive association between marriage and life satisfaction across 15 countries with the notable exception of the only African county included, Nigeria (Peiró 2006). Three studies in Africa, which used a dichotomous measure of marital status and focused on older adults (age 45 and above), reported better mental health or quality of life among those married compared to those unmarried (most of whom were formerly married) (Kohler et al 2017;Myroniuk 2017;Ralston 2017). Unfortunately, these prior studies did not present marital results disaggregated by gender or age group.…”

Section: Psychological Benefits Of Marriagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This work is at least partly motivated by a desire to gain insights into the retreat from marriage and persistent low fertility that many countries in North America and Europe have experienced over the last few decades. In contrast, only a few studies have investigated the potential psychological implications of marriage and children in low-income countries (Cetre, Clark and Senik 2016;Conzo, Fuochi and Mencarini 2017;Deaton and Stone 2014;Margolis and Myrskylä 2011;Myroniuk 2017;Peiró 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the high-costs of raising children in poor families with limited institutional support may increase parental stress and diminish children's psychological rewards (Aassve, Mencarini and Sironi 2015;Pollman-Schult 2014). Longitudinal research in Africa which focuses on the relationship between adults' psychological well-being and either children (Conzo, Fuochi and Mencarini 2017) or marital status (Myroniuk 2017) is currently rather limited. This paper builds on this small, but growing, body of research in low-income countries by focusing on Malawi, a comparatively poor African country with nearly universal marriage and high-fertility.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Psychological Benefits of Marriage and Children in Rural Malawi

Clark¹,

Margolis²,

Cotton³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Despite an extensive literature on the psychological rewards to marriage and children in high- income countries, research on these relationships in low-income countries remains limited. This paper draws on data from 2,926 adults interviewed in the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health to examine how marital status, categorized as never, formerly, monogamously, and polygynous married, and number of children is associated with psychological well-being. With respect to marital status, we find that women in polygynous unions fare worse than monogamously married women and this detrimental effect is stronger for women than for men. Formerly married men and women of reproductive age experience the worst psychological outcomes, although this association wanes with age. In contrast, the benefits of having children is only evident among older Malawians, especially women. These findings offer novel insights into the patterns of nearly universal marriage and high fertility that characterizes Malawi and much of sub-Saharan Africa.

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Section: Hypothesessupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Psychological Benefits Of Marriagementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Psychological Benefits of Marriage and Children in Rural Malawi

Clark¹,

Margolis²,

Cotton³

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This work is at least partly motivated by a desire to better understand the retreat from marriage and persistent low fertility that many countries in North America and Europe have experienced over the last few decades. In contrast, only a few studies have investigated the potential psychological implications of marriage and children in low‐income countries (Cetre, Clark, and Senik 2016; Conzo, Fuochi, and Mencarini 2017; Deaton and Stone 2014; Margolis and Myrskylä 2011; Myroniuk 2017; Myroniuk, Kohler, and Kohler 2020; Peiró 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Psychological Benefits of Marriage and Children in Rural Malawi

Clark

Cotton

Margolis

et al. 2020

Studies in Family Planning

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Despite an extensive literature on the psychological rewards of marriage and children in high‐income countries, research on these relationships in low‐income countries remains limited. This paper draws on data from 4,133 adult women and men interviewed in the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health to examine how marital status, categorized as never, formerly, monogamously, and polygynously married, and number of children are associated with psychological well‐being. With respect to marital status, we find that women in polygynous unions fare worse than monogamously married women and this detrimental effect is stronger for women than for men. Formerly married men and women of reproductive age experience the worst psychological outcomes, although this association wanes with age. In contrast, the benefits of having children is only evident among older Malawian women. These findings offer novel insights into the patterns of nearly universal marriage and high fertility that characterize Malawi and much of sub‐Saharan Africa.

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PROTOCOL: The association between marital transitions and physical and mental health in late life: A systematic review

et al. 2022

Campbell Systematic Reviews

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This is the protocol for a Campbell systematic review. The objectives are as follows:What is the association between marital transitions and physical health among people older than 60? What is the association between marital transitions and mental health among people older than 60? What is the role of gender, age, and education on the association between marital transitions and health among people older than 60? What is the influence of geographical region, housing, neighborhood, and social support on the association between marital transitions and health status among people older than 60? condition, or issueThe world population is rapidly aging. Today, for the first time in history, most people can expect to live into their sixties and beyond.By 2050, the world's population aged 60 years and older is expected to total 2 billion, up from 900 million in 2015 (WHO, 2018). The older people tended to have more complex health needs with a higher risk of comorbidity (≥2 concurrent diseases) (Pickard, 2018), they face special physical and mental health challenges which need to be recognized (WHO, 2017).Common conditions in older age include hearing loss, cataracts, and refractive errors, back and neck pain and osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes (Jaul & Barron, 2017; WHO, 2018). A study data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study involving 6754 subjects, the results showed that 42% people had at least one chronic disease, 17% had two or more diseases at the same time; the top three diseases of prevalence were hypertension (15.4%), arthritis or rheumatism (11.0%), and stomach or digestive diseases (9.3%) (Fan et al., 2021). The data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2005 through 2012 showed that the prevalence of multimorbidity in adults aged 65 or older was 67%, especially in hypertension and arthritis (Jindai et al., 2016). A study based on the Longitudinal Survey on Senior's Health and Health Services Use linked to health-Adm data, the result showed that multimorbidity was very high in old people in Quebec, with an estimated prevalence of up to 95.9% (Gontijo Guerra et al., 2019). A systematic review included a total of 52 articles (45 studies) that reported data among >60 million older people in 30 higher-income countries, the overall prevalence of multimorbidity was 66.1% (interquartile range [IQR]: 54.4-76.6) (Ofori-Asenso et al., 2018). Mental health has an impact on physical health and vice versa. For example, the older people with physical

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

Abstract: The findings question the relative hardship of marital dissolutions for those who have managed to survive into old age, and call for the collection of more detailed longitudinal data on older Africans on this topic.

Cited by 11 publications

References 39 publications

The Psychological Benefits of Marriage and Children in Rural Malawi

The Psychological Benefits of Marriage and Children in Rural Malawi

The Psychological Benefits of Marriage and Children in Rural Malawi

PROTOCOL: The association between marital transitions and physical and mental health in late life: A systematic review

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