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DOES TIME MODERATE THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN MARITAL
STATUS AND SELF-REPORTED HEALTH?
Numerous studies over the last thirty years have established a positive association
between marriage and a number of dimensions health and well-being. Research indicates
that married people have lower rates of mortality and morbidity than the nonmarried and
report better subjective health (Gove 1973; Rogers 1995). Furthermore, married people
experience less psychological distress than do people who are single, divorced,
cohabiting, or widowed and also report greater life satisfaction (Barrett 1999; Gore and
Mangione 1983; Gove, Hughes, and Style 1983; Ross, Mirowsky, and Goldsteen 1990;
Ross 1995). The question of whether or not marriage benefits men more than women
represents a lively debate in sociology, although the evidence largely indicates that while
marriage benefits the health of both men and women, its advantages are greater for men
(see Cherlin, 1991; Gove and Tudor 1973; Hu and Goldman 1990; Kobrin and
Hendershot 1977; Ross et al 1990; Weiss 1984).
Despite increasing application of the life course perspective to the sociological
study of health disparities, the questions of whether marital status differentials in health
vary as a function of age or historical time remain largely unexplored. The life course
perspective suggests that the association between marital status and health, as well as the
mechanisms through which marriage affects health shift in importance over the life
course, according to age and also time in history. In terms of developmental time,
marital status may be more or less consequential to health at different points of the life
course. This may be due to a range of factors associated with age, such as the propensity
to engage in risky or otherwise negative health behaviors, social norms which proscribe
marriage, social supports for or acceptance of the nonmarried status, and the quality of
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Convention