Abstract
Aim
To analyse marital and gender differentials in mortality.
Subjects and methods
The causes of death in Germany were analyzed in detail to determine odds ratios (OR) for all causes and the four main causes of death.
Results
Mortality rates were nearly twice as high for men as for women. Mortality rates for unmarried men were more than twice as high as those for married men (OR 2.43–2.50); the ORs for women were considerably lower (1.74 to 1.75). For men, the ORs were higher for those causes of death influenced by health-risk behaviour.
Conclusion
In terms of health gains, marriage seems to be more beneficial to men than to women. Particularly for men, marriage provides stronger protection against causes of death that are related to health-risk behaviour (smoking, drinking, risky driving) and to unhealthy working conditions.
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Notes
Routine statistics only include age and sex. The author wishes to thank Stefan Rübenach (German Federal Statistical Office) for putting the expanded tables at the author’s disposal.
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Kolip, P. The association between gender, family status and mortality. J Public Health 13, 309–312 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-005-0129-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-005-0129-7