Abstract
Divorce is a relatively common stressful life event that is purported to increase risk for all-cause mortality. One problem in the literature on divorce and health is that it is fragmented and spread across many disciplines; most prospective studies of mortality are based in epidemiology and sociology, whereas most mechanistic studies are based in psychology. This review integrates research on divorce and death via meta-analysis and outlines a research agenda for better understanding the potential mechanisms linking marital dissolution and risk for all-cause mortality. Random effects meta-analysis with a sample of 32 prospective studies (involving more than 6.5 million people, 160,000 deaths, and over 755,000 divorces in 11 different countries) revealed a significant increase in risk for early death among separated/divorced adults in comparison to their married counterparts. Men and younger adults evidenced significantly greater risk for early death following marital separation/divorce than did women and older adults. Quantification of the overall effect size linking marital separation/divorce to risk for early death reveals a number of important research questions, and this article discusses what remains to be learned about four plausible mechanisms of action: social selection, resource disruptions, changes in health behaviors, and chronic psychological distress.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 454-474 |
Number of pages | 21 |
Journal | Perspectives on Psychological Science |
Volume | 6 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2011 |
Keywords
- death
- divorce
- epidemiology
- marital separation
- mechanisms
- meta-analysis
- mortality
- public health
- risk
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychology(all)