Miika Mäki, Anna Erika Hägglund, Anna Rotkirch, Sangita Kulathinal, Mikko Myrskylä
{"title":"Stable Marital Histories Predict Happiness and Health Across Educational Groups.","authors":"Miika Mäki, Anna Erika Hägglund, Anna Rotkirch, Sangita Kulathinal, Mikko Myrskylä","doi":"10.1007/s10680-025-09733-x","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Couple relations are a key determinant of mental and physical well-being in old age. However, we do not know how the advantages and disadvantages associated with partnership histories vary between socioeconomic groups. We create relationship history typologies for the cohorts 1945-1957 using the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe and examine, for the first time, how relationship histories relate to multiple indicators of well-being by educational attainment. The results show that stable marriages predict greater well-being, compared to single and less stable partnership histories. The positive outcomes are similar across all educational groups. Those with lower education who have divorced experience even lower well-being in old age. The interaction analyses suggest that individuals with fewer resources could suffer more from losing a partner. The findings underscore that current and past romantic relationships are linked to well-being in old age and help policymakers identify vulnerable subgroups among the ageing population.</p>","PeriodicalId":51496,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Population-Revue Europeenne De Demographie","volume":"41 1","pages":"12"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12075088/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Journal of Population-Revue Europeenne De Demographie","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-025-09733-x","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"DEMOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Couple relations are a key determinant of mental and physical well-being in old age. However, we do not know how the advantages and disadvantages associated with partnership histories vary between socioeconomic groups. We create relationship history typologies for the cohorts 1945-1957 using the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe and examine, for the first time, how relationship histories relate to multiple indicators of well-being by educational attainment. The results show that stable marriages predict greater well-being, compared to single and less stable partnership histories. The positive outcomes are similar across all educational groups. Those with lower education who have divorced experience even lower well-being in old age. The interaction analyses suggest that individuals with fewer resources could suffer more from losing a partner. The findings underscore that current and past romantic relationships are linked to well-being in old age and help policymakers identify vulnerable subgroups among the ageing population.
期刊介绍:
European Journal of Population addresses a broad public of researchers, policy makers and others concerned with population processes and their consequences. Its aim is to improve understanding of population phenomena by giving priority to work that contributes to the development of theory and method, and that spans the boundaries between demography and such disciplines as sociology, anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, epidemiology and other sciences contributing to public health. The Journal is open to authors from all over the world, and its articles cover European and non-European countries (specifically including developing countries) alike.