Volume 50 - Article 20 | Pages 515–546
Differences in mortality before retirement: The role of living arrangements and marital status in Denmark
By Serena Vigezzi, Cosmo Strozza
References
Alvarez, J.A., Kallestrup-Lamb, M., and Kjærgaard, S. (2021). Linking retirement age to life expectancy does not lessen the demographic implications of unequal lifespans. Insurance: Mathematics and Economics 99: 363–375.
Amilon, A. and Larsen, M. (2023). Increasing retirement ages in Denmark: Do changes in gender, education, employment status and health matter? European Journal of Ageing 20(1): 24.
Ayuso, M., Bravo, J.M., and Holzmann, R. (2021). Getting life expectancy estimates right for pension policy: Period versus cohort approach. Journal of Pension Economics and Finance 20(2): 212–231.
Berg, C.A. and Upchurch, R. (2007). A developmental-contextual model of couples coping with chronic illness across the adult life span. Psychological Bulletin 133: 920–954.
Berntsen, K.N. and Kravdal, Ø (2012). The relationship between mortality and time since divorce, widowhood or remarriage in Norway. Social Science and Medicine 75(12): 2267–2274.
Brønnum-Hansen, H. and Baadsgaard, M. (2012). Widening social inequality in life expectancy in Denmark. A register-based study on social composition and mortality trends for the Danish population. BMC Public Health 12(1): 994.
Brønnum-Hansen, H., Östergren, O., Tarkiainen, L., Hermansen, Å, Martikainen, P., Wel, K.A., and Lundberg, O. (2021). Changes in life expectancy and lifespan variability by income quartiles in four Nordic countries: A study based on nationwide register data. BMJ Open 11(6): e048192.
Burger, O., Baudisch, A., and Vaupel, J.W. (2012). Human mortality improvement in evolutionary context. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109(44): 18210–18214.
Doyle, Y., McKee, M., Rechel, B., and Grundy, E. (2009). Meeting the challenge of population ageing. BMJ 339: b3926.
Drefahl, S. (2012). Do the married really live longer? The role of cohabitation and socioeconomic status. Journal of Marriage and Family 74(3): 462–475.
Dupre, M.E. (2007). Educational differences in age-related patterns of disease: Reconsidering the cumulative disadvantage and age-as-leveler hypotheses. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 48(1): 1–15.
Ediev, D.M. (2014). Why increasing longevity may favour a PAYG pension system over a funded system. Population Studies 68(1): 95–110.
Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. Denmark – Old-age pension, early retirement and survivors – Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion – European Commission.
Ennis, J. and Majid, U. (2020). The widowhood effect: Explaining the adverse outcomes after spousal loss using physiological stress theories, marital quality, and attachment. The Family Journal 28(3): 241–246.
Esteve, A., Reher, D.S., Treviño, R., Zueras, P., and Turu, A. (2020). Living alone over the life course: Cross-national variations on an emerging issue. Population and Development Review 46(1): 169–189.
Fokkema, T. and Liefbroer, A.C. (2008). Trends in living arrangements in Europe: Convergence or divergence? Demographic Research 19(36): 1351–1418.
Franke, S. and Kulu, H. (2018). Mortality differences by partnership status in England and Wales: The effect of living arrangements or health selection? European Journal of Population = Revue Europeenne De Demographie 34(1): 87–118.
Frisch, M. and Simonsen, J. (2013). Marriage, cohabitation and mortality in Denmark: National cohort study of 6.5 million persons followed for up to three decades (1982–2011). International Journal of Epidemiology 42(2): 559–578.
Görlitz, K. and Tamm, M. (2020). Parenthood and smoking. Economics and Human Biology 38: 100874.
Grundy, E.M. and Tomassini, C. (2010). Marital history, health and mortality among older men and women in England and Wales. BMC Public Health 10(1): 554.
Harsløf, I., Scarpa, S., and Andersen, S.N. (2013). Changing population profiles and social risk structures in the Nordic countries. In: Harsløf, I. and Ulmestig, R. (eds.). Changing social risks and social policy responses in the Nordic welfare states. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK: 25–49.
Hilz, R. and Wagner, M. (2018). Marital status, partnership and health behaviour: Findings from the German Ageing Survey (DEAS). Comparative Population Studies 43.
Hoffmann, R. (2011). Illness, not age, is the leveler of social mortality differences in old age. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B 66B(3: 374–379.
Hummelgaard, P. (2019). Lov Om Ændring Af Lov Om Social Pension Og Forskellige Andre Love. Copenhagen: Ministry of Employment, LOV nr 1559 af 27/12/2019.
Jalovaara, M., Neyer, G., Andersson, G., Dahlberg, J., Dommermuth, L., Fallesen, P., and Lappegård, T. (2019). Education, gender, and cohort fertility in the Nordic countries. European Journal of Population 35(3): 563–586.
Kallestrup‐Lamb, M., Kjærgaard, S., and Rosenskjold, C.P.T. (2020). Insight into stagnating adult life expectancy: Analyzing cause of death patterns across socioeconomic groups. Health Economics 29(12): 1728–1743.
Kandler, U., Meisinger, C., Baumert, J., Löwel, H., and Group, Kora Study (2007). Living alone is a risk factor for mortality in men but not women from the general population: A prospective cohort study. BMC Public Health 7(1): 335.
Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K. and Newton, T.L. (2001). Marriage and health: His and hers. Psychological Bulletin 127(4): 472–503.
Kilpi, F., Konttinen, H., Silventoinen, K., and Martikainen, P. (2015). Living arrangements as determinants of myocardial infarction incidence and survival: A prospective register study of over 300,000 Finnish men and women. Social Science and Medicine 133: 93–100.
Koskinen, S., Joutsenniemi, K., Martelin, T., and Martikainen, P. (2007). Mortality differences according to living arrangements. International Journal of Epidemiology 36(6): 1255–1264.
Kravdal, Ø (2017). Large and growing social inequality in mortality in Norway: The combined importance of marital status and own and spouse’s education. Population and Development Review 43(4): 645–665.
Kravdal, Ø, Grundy, E., and Keenan, K. (2018). The increasing mortality advantage of the married: The role played by education. Demographic Research 38(20): 471–512.
Lau, D.T. and Kirby, J.B. (2009). The relationship between living arrangement and preventive care use among community-dwelling elderly persons. American Journal of Public Health 99(7): 1315–1321.
Lawrence, E.M., Rogers, R.G., Zajacova, A., and Wadsworth, T. (2019). Marital happiness, marital status, health, and longevity. Journal of Happiness Studies 20(5): 1539–1561.
Leopold, T. (2018). Gender differences in the consequences of divorce: A study of multiple outcomes. Demography 55(3): 769–797.
Lindahl-Jacobsen, R., Oeppen, J., Rizzi, S., Möller, S., Zarulli, V., Christensen, K., and Vaupel, J.W. (2016). Why did Danish women’s life expectancy stagnate? The influence of interwar generations’ smoking behaviour. European Journal of Epidemiology 31(12): 1207–1211.
Liu, H. (2012). Marital dissolution and self-rated health: Age trajectories and birth cohort variations. Social Science and Medicine 74(7): 1107–1116.
Liu, H., Umberson, D., and Xu, M. (2020). Widowhood and mortality: Gender, race/ethnicity, and the role of economic resources. Annals of Epidemiology 45: 69–75.
Liu, Z. (2021). The social security retirement age. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, CRS Report R44670.
Lucas, R.E. (2005). Time does not heal all wounds: A longitudinal study of reaction and adaptation to divorce. Psychological Science 16(12): 945–950.
Mackenbach, J.P. (2015). Should we aim to reduce relative or absolute inequalities in mortality? European Journal of Public Health 25(2): 185.
Mackenbach, J.P., Kulhánová, I., Menvielle, G., Bopp, M., Borrell, C., Costa, G., Deboosere, P., Esnaola, S., Kalediene, R., Kovacs, K., Leinsalu, M., Martikainen, P., Regidor, E., Rodriguez-Sanz, M., Strand, B.H., Hoffmann, R., Eikemo, T.A., Östergren, O., and Lundberg, O. (2015). Trends in inequalities in premature mortality: A study of 3.2 million deaths in 13 European countries. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 69(3): 207–217.
Mackenbach, J.P., Martikainen, P., Menvielle, G., and Gelder, R. (2016). The arithmetic of reducing relative and absolute inequalities in health: A theoretical analysis illustrated with European mortality data. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 70(7): 730–736.
Martikainen, P., Martelin, T., Nihtilä, E., Majamaa, K., and Koskinen, S. (2005). Differences in mortality by marital status in Finland from 1976 to 2000: Analyses of changes in marital-status distributions, socio-demographic and household composition, and cause of death. Population Studies 59(1): 99–115.
Meng, A., Sundstrup, E., and Andersen, L.L. (2020). Factors contributing to retirement decisions in Denmark: Comparing employees who expect to retire before, at, and after the state pension age. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17(9): 3338.
Metsä-Simola, N. and Martikainen, P. (2013). The short-term and long-term effects of divorce on mortality risk in a large Finnish cohort, 1990–2003. Population Studies 67(1): 97–110.
Ministry of Finance (2020). Pension projection exercise 2021 country fiche Denmark. Copenhagen: Ministry of Finance, Denmark.
Murphy, M., Grundy, E., and Kalogirou, S. (2007). The increase in marital status differences in mortality up to the oldest age in seven European countries, 1990–99. Population Studies 61(3): 287–298.
Neergaard Larsen, J. (2015). Forslag Til Lov Om Ændring Af Lov Om Social Pension Og Lov Om Arbejdsskadesikring. Copenhagen: Ministry of Employment.
Nielsen, K.M., Faergeman, O., Larsen, M.L., and Foldspang, A. (2006). Danish singles have a twofold risk of acute coronary syndrome: data from a cohort of 138 290 persons. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 60(8): 721–728.
Peltonen, R., Ho, J.Y., Elo, I.T., and Martikainen, P. (2017). Contribution of smoking-attributable mortality to life expectancy differences by marital status among Finnish men and women, 1971–2010. Demographic Research 36(8): 255–280.
Poulain, M., Dal, L., and Herm, A. (2016). Mortality risk by living arrangements for the elderly Belgian population. Quetelet Journal 4(1): 29–56.
Regős, G. (2015). Can fertility be increased with a pension reform? Ageing International 40(2): 117–137.
Reher, D. and Requena, M. (2018). Living alone in later life: A global perspective. Population and Development Review 44(3): 427–454.
Rendall, M.S., Weden, M.M., Favreault, M.M., and Waldron, H. (2011). The protective effect of marriage for survival: A review and update. Demography 48(2): 481–506.
Requena, M. and Reher, D. (2021). Partnership and mortality in mid and late life: Protection or selection? Social Science and Medicine 279: 113971.
Robards, J., Evandrou, M., Falkingham, J., and Vlachantoni, A. (2012). Marital status, health and mortality. Maturitas 73(4): 295–299.
Rook, K.S., August, K.J., Stephens, M.A.P., and Franks, M.M. (2011). When does spousal social control provoke negative reactions in the context of chronic illness? The pivotal role of patients’ expectations. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 28(6): 772–789.
Savelieva, K., Jokela, M., and Rotkirch, A. (2023). Reasons to postpone childbearing during fertility decline in Finland. Marriage and Family Review 59(3): 253–276.
Sbarra, D.A., Law, R.W., and Portley, R.M. (2011). Divorce and death: A meta-analysis and research agenda for clinical, social, and health psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science 6(5): 454–474.
Scafato, E., Galluzzo, L., Gandin, C., Ghirini, S., Baldereschi, M., Capurso, A., Maggi, S., Farchi, G., and Ilsa Working Group (2008). Marital and cohabitation status as predictors of mortality: A 10-year follow-up of an Italian elderly cohort. Social Science and Medicine 67(9): 1456–1464.
Sinn, H.W. (2005). Europe’s demographic deficit a plea for a child pension system. De Economist 153(1): 1–45.
Social Protection Committee (SPC) and European Commission (DG EMPL) (2021). 2021 Pension adequacy report: Current and future income adequacy in old age in the EU. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Sørensen, A.E., Olesen, T.B., and Olesen, N.W. (2018). Folkepension, 1956.
Staehelin, K., Schindler, C., Spoerri, A., Stutz, E.Z., and Group for the S.N.C.S. (2012). Marital status, living arrangement and mortality: Does the association vary by gender? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 66(7): e22–e22.
Strozza, C., Vigezzi, S., Callaway, J., Kashnitsky, I., Aleksandrovs, A., and Vaupel, J.W. (2022). Socioeconomic inequalities in survival to retirement age: A register-based analysis. Open Science Framework.
Sullivan, A.R. and Fenelon, A. (2014). Patterns of widowhood mortality. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B 69B(1): 53–62.
Umberson, D. (1992). Gender, marital status and the social control of health behavior. Social Science and Medicine 34(8): 907–917.
Umberson, D., Williams, K., Powers, D.A., Liu, H., and Needham, B. (2006). You make me sick: Marital quality and health over the life course. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 47(1): 1–16.
Valkonen, T., Martikainen, P., and Blomgren, J. (2004). Increasing excess mortality among non-married elderly people in developed countries. Demographic Research S2(12): 305–330.
van Groezen, B., Leers, T., and Meijdam, L. (2003). Social security and endogenous fertility: Pensions and child allowances as Siamese twins. Journal of Public Economics 87(2): 233–251.
Vanhuysse, P., Medgyesi, M., and Gal, R.I. (2021). Welfare states as lifecycle redistribution machines: Decomposing the roles of age and socio-economic status shows that European tax-and-benefit systems primarily redistribute across age groups. PLOS ONE 16(8): e0255760.
Vaupel, J.W., Villavicencio, F., and Bergeron-Boucher, M.P. (2021). Demographic perspectives on the rise of longevity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118(9): e2019536118.
Vaupel, J.W. and Yashin, A.I. (1985). Heterogeneity’s ruses: Some surprising effects of selection on population dynamics. The American Statistician 39(3).
Wang, Y., Jiao, Y., Nie, J., O’Neil, A., Huang, W., Zhang, L., Han, J., Liu, H., Zhu, Y., Yu, C., and Woodward, M. (2020). Sex differences in the association between marital status and the risk of cardiovascular, cancer, and all-cause mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 7,881,040 individuals. Global Health Research and Policy 5(1): 4.
Westmaas, J.L., Wild, T.C., and Ferrence, R. (2002). Effects of gender in social control of smoking cessation. Health Psychology 21(4): 368–376.
Williams, K. and Umberson, D. (2004). Marital status, marital transitions, and health: A gendered life course perspective. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 45(1): 81–98.
Zueras, P., Rutigliano, R., and Trias-Llimós, S. (2020). Marital status, living arrangements, and mortality in middle and older age in Europe. International Journal of Public Health 65(5): 627–636.