Linked Lives: Does Disability and Marital Quality Influence Risk of Marital Dissolution among Older Couples?
Abstract
:1. Linked Lives: Does Disability and Marital Quality Influence Risk of Marital Dissolution among Older Couples?
2. Literature Review
2.1. Marriages and Linked Lives across the Life Course
2.2. Disability, Divorce, and Marital Quality among Older Couples
2.3. Basic Care Disability, Caregiving, and Marital Dynamics among Older Different-Sex Couples
2.4. Summary of Hypotheses
3. Methods
3.1. Data
3.2. Measures
3.3. Analytic Strategy
4. Results
4.1. Marital Status by Wave
4.2. Sample Characteristics of Analytic Sample
4.3. Risk of Divorce/Separation among Late Midlife Couples
4.4. Sensitivity Analyses
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Waves | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Total % |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Married | 3965 | 3559 | 3205 | 2869 | 2619 | 2363 | 2171 | 1977 | 1780 | 1555 | 1360 | 1136 | 924 | 719 | 18.1 |
Divorced/Separated | 56 | 42 | 32 | 13 | 17 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 5.3 | |
Widowed | 84 | 108 | 124 | 122 | 131 | 112 | 120 | 142 | 168 | 145 | 175 | 156 | 138 | 43.5 | |
Attrited | 270 | 204 | 180 | 115 | 108 | 69 | 63 | 52 | 46 | 45 | 47 | 48 | 67 | 33.1 |
Mean/Proportion | SD | Range | |
---|---|---|---|
Marital Status: | |||
Continuously married | 0.89 | 0–1 | |
Divorced/separated/repartnered | 0.01 | 0–1 | |
Death of either spouse | 0.06 | 0–1 | |
Attrited | 0.04 | 0–1 | |
Time-Invariant (Wave 1) | |||
Marital Quality: | |||
Low enjoyment | 0.19 | ||
Average enjoyment together | 3.16 | 0.59 | 1–4 |
Wives’ enjoyment together | 3.11 | 0.72 | 1–4 |
Husbands’ enjoyment together | 3.23 | 0.64 | 1–4 |
Spousal Homogamy: | |||
Husband’s age | 56.81 | 5.11 | 25–83 |
Age difference (Husband-Spouse) | 3.81 | 5.13 | −30–36 |
Ethnoracial characteristics | |||
Both spouses nonwhite | 0.10 | 0–1 | |
Race discordant | 0.03 | 0–1 | |
Both spouses white | 0.87 | 0–1 | |
Husband education (years) | 12.96 | 3.25 | 0–17 |
Education difference | 0.18 | 2.65 | −13–11 |
Household wealth in 1992: | |||
Low wealth (<50,000 USD a) | 0.16 | 0–1 | |
Low-middle wealth (50,000–99,999 USD) | 0.18 | 0–1 | |
Upper-middle wealth (100,000–249,999 USD) | 0.33 | 0–1 | |
Upper wealth (≥250,000 USD) | 0.33 | 0–1 | |
Marital Biography: | |||
Remarried (yes = 1) | 0.27 | 0–1 | |
Marital duration | 27.77 | 10.84 | 0.10–53.20 |
Time-Varying (Waves 1–14) | |||
Acquired Disability: | |||
Husband acquired disability | 0.07 | 0–1 | |
Wife acquired disability | 0.08 | 0–1 | |
At least one spouse acquired disability | 0.14 | 0–1 | |
Household income (Logged) | 10.82 | 1.02 | 0–14.72 |
Life Transitions: | |||
Husband currently works (yes = 1) | 0.51 | 0–1 | |
Empty nest (yes = 1) | 0.72 | 0–1 | |
Self-Rated Health: | |||
Husband’s self-rated health | 3.40 | 1.08 | 1–5 |
Wife’s self-rated health | 3.54 | 1.04 | 1–5 |
Proxy interview (Husband) | 0.10 | 0–1 |
Gender-Specific Acquired Disability | Couple-Level Acquired Disability | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | Model 4 | Model 5 | |
Marital Quality a | |||||
Low enjoyment | 1.46 *** (0.17) | 1.56 *** (0.17) | 1.53 *** (0.17) | 1.46 *** (0.17) | 1.65 *** (0.17) |
Acquired Disability b | |||||
Husband disability | 0.34 (0.34) | 0.34 (0.33) | 0.81 * (0.40) | ||
Wife disability | 0.56 † (0.30) | 1.05 ** (1.77) | 0.57 † (0.30) | ||
Couple-level disability | 0.49 † (0.26) | 1.07 *** (0.30) | |||
Interaction Terms | |||||
Low Enjoyment*Husband ADL | −1.13 (0.69) | ||||
Low Enjoyment*Wife ADL | −1.12 † (0.58) | ||||
Low Enjoyment*Couple ADL | −1.47 ** (0.50) | ||||
Spousal Homogamy a | |||||
Husband’s age | −0.07 ** (0.02) | −0.07 ** (0.02) | −0.07 ** (0.02) | −0.07 ** (0.02) | −0.07 ** (0.02) |
Age difference | 0.04 ** (0.02) | 0.04 ** (0.02) | 0.04 ** (0.02) | 0.05 ** (0.02) | 0.04 ** (0.02) |
Ethnoracial Characteristics | |||||
Both spouses nonwhite | −0.36 (0.24) | −0.36 (0.24) | −0.36 (0.24) | −0.35 (0.23) | −0.36 (0.24) |
Different race/ethnicity | 0.58 * (0.29) | 0.57 * (0.29) | 0.58 * (0.29) | 0.58 * (0.29) | 0.57 * (0.29) |
Husband education (years) | −0.00 (0.04) | −0.00 (0.04) | −0.00 (0.04) | −0.00 (0.04) | −0.00 (0.04) |
Education difference | 0.04 (0.04) | 0.04 (0.04) | 0.04 (0.04) | 0.04 (0.04) | 0.04 (0.04) |
Household wealth a | |||||
Low wealth | 0.23 (0.25) | 0.23 (0.25) | 0.22 (0.25) | 0.23 (0.25) | 0.23 (0.25) |
Low-middle wealth | −0.17 (0.26) | −0.18 (0.26) | −0.17 (0.26) | −0.18 (0.26) | −0.18 (0.26) |
Upper-middle wealth | −0.24 (0.23) | −0.24 (0.23) | −0.23 (0.23) | −0.24 (0.23) | −0.23 (0.23) |
Marital Biography | |||||
Remarried | 0.24 (0.24) | 0.24 (0.24) | 0.23 (0.24) | 0.24 (0.22) | 0.24 (0.22) |
Marital duration | −0.04 *** (0.01) | −0.04 *** (0.01) | −0.04 *** (0.01) | −0.04 *** (0.01) | −0.04 *** (0.01) |
Household income (Logged) b | −0.03 (0.07) | −0.03 (0.07) | −0.03 (0.07) | −0.04 (0.07) | −0.04 (0.07) |
Life Transitions b | |||||
Husband currently works | −0.02 (0.19) | −0.02 (0.19) | −0.02 (0.19) | −0.02 (0.19) | −0.02 (0.19) |
Empty nest | −0.10 (0.17) | −0.10 (0.17) | −0.10 (0.17) | −0.10 (0.17) | −0.09 (0.17) |
Self-Rated Health b | |||||
Husband’s health | −0.01 (0.07) | −0.01 (0.07) | −0.01 (0.07) | −0.00 (0.08) | −0.01 (0.08) |
Wife’s health | −0.07 (0.08) | −0.07 (0.08) | −0.07 (0.08) | −0.08 (0.08) | −0.09 (0.08) |
Proxy interview (Husband) b | −0.11 (0.26) | −0.11 (0.26) | −0.11 (0.26) | −0.10 (0.26) | −0.10 (0.26) |
Period | −0.21 *** (0.03) | −0.21 *** (0.03) | −0.21 *** (0.03) | −0.21 *** (0.03) | −0.21 *** (0.03) |
Intercept | 0.88 | 0.84 | 0.88 | 0.91 | 0.88 |
Rao-Scott Likelihood Ratio | 40.24 *** | 38.57 *** | 38.52 *** | 42.38 *** | 40.64 *** |
Degrees of Freedom | 61.51 | 64.39 | 64.39 | 58.76 | 61.68 |
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Latham-Mintus, K.; Holcomb, J.; Zervos, A.P. Linked Lives: Does Disability and Marital Quality Influence Risk of Marital Dissolution among Older Couples? Soc. Sci. 2022, 11, 27. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11010027
Latham-Mintus K, Holcomb J, Zervos AP. Linked Lives: Does Disability and Marital Quality Influence Risk of Marital Dissolution among Older Couples? Social Sciences. 2022; 11(1):27. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11010027
Chicago/Turabian StyleLatham-Mintus, Kenzie, Jeanne Holcomb, and Andrew P. Zervos. 2022. "Linked Lives: Does Disability and Marital Quality Influence Risk of Marital Dissolution among Older Couples?" Social Sciences 11, no. 1: 27. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11010027
APA StyleLatham-Mintus, K., Holcomb, J., & Zervos, A. P. (2022). Linked Lives: Does Disability and Marital Quality Influence Risk of Marital Dissolution among Older Couples? Social Sciences, 11(1), 27. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11010027