A Life Course Approach to the Relationship between Health Inequalities and Marital Trajectories

Maja Djundeva, University of Groningen

This study investigates the influence of early childhood health on subsequent partnership trajectories of older adults in 13 European countries using SHARELIFE data (N=24,183). After describing partnership trajectories of older adults into six groups representing different ideal types of partnership trajectories (by using sequence analysis with focus on quantum and ordering), results from multinomial logistic regression models based upon a theoretical framework of cumulative exposure suggest that there is a direct link between bad childhood health and the probability of following a non-traditional partnership trajectory. Experiencing divorce, remaining single over the life-course or having a complex trajectory of multiple marriages disrupted by divorce and widowhood are associated with worse childhood health, compared to having a stably married trajectory. We conclude that even after controlling for childhood and adult socioeconomic conditions, as well as fertility, a social selection into marriage appears to exist for both older men and women.