Volume 8 - Article 10 | Pages 279–304  

Is nursing home demand affected by the decline in age difference between spouses?

By Darius N. Lakdawalla, Robert Schoeni

Abstract

We investigate whether declines in the age difference between spouses has influenced widowhood and nursing home demand. We first use life-table methods to simulate the impact of the declining age gap on the risk of widowhood. We then use the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey and the Census Public Use Microdata Samples to estimate the impact of widowhood, and other characteristics, on the probability of nursing home entrance. These help us estimate the impact of the declining age gap on nursing home use.
We estimate that the decline in the difference in ages between spouses that took place between the birth cohorts of 1900 and 1955 may raise women's annual nursing home expenditures by about $1.4 billion, but lower men's expenditures by about $600 million.

Author’s Affiliation

• Darius N. Lakdawalla - RAND Corporation, United States of America EMAIL
• Robert Schoeni - University of Michigan, United States of America EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

National estimates of kinship size and composition among adults with activity limitations in the United States
Volume 45 - Article 36

Proximity to mother over the life course in the United States: Overall patterns and racial differences
Volume 45 - Article 23

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

The partnership context of first parenthood – and how it varies by parental class and birth cohort in the United Kingdom
Volume 53 - Article 16    | Keywords: cohabitation, cohort analysis, event history, event history analysis, family formation, intergenerational inequality, marriage, parental socio-economic status, parenthood, single parenthood, United Kingdom

Gendered labor market adjustments around marital and cohabiting union transitions during Europe’s early cohabitation diffusion
Volume 53 - Article 15    | Keywords: adult equivalent household income, cohabitation, employment income, gender inequalities, hours worked, intra-household specialization, marriage, union transitions

Unpacking the black box of latent class analysis using qualitative life history interviews: A data-linked explanatory approach examining sexual behavior in rural South Africa
Volume 53 - Article 13    | Keywords: aging, HIV/AIDS, latent class analysis, nested mixed methods, qualitative life history interviews, sexual behavior, South Africa

Where do we go from here? Partnership-parenthood trajectories of cohabitation as first union during young adulthood in the United States
Volume 53 - Article 9    | Keywords: cohabitation, family inequality, fertility, marriage, race/ethnicity, transition to adulthood, union formation, United States of America

The changing inter-relationship between partnership dynamics and fertility trends in Europe and the United States: A review
Volume 52 - Article 7    | Keywords: childbearing, Europe, family complexity, fertility, fertility, marriage, partnership, United States of America