Pregnancy outcome is associated with maternal marital status in Austria--even at the beginning of the 21st century

Human reproduction is a biological phenomenon, however, sociocultural factors such as marital status influence pregnancy outcome and reproductive success. In the present study the impact of maternal marital status on pregnancy outcome was tested for all births, which had taken place in Austria between 1999 and 2004, which met the following criteria: single births, nulliparity, mothers older than 19 years (n = 179 830). The rate of preterm delivery (< 37 beginning weeks of gestation) and rate of low birth weight (< 2500 g) among term births were significantly higher among unmarried mothers in comparison to married mothers. Additionally the newborns of unmarried mothers were significantly lighter and shorter than those of married mothers. This was especially true of immigrant mothers. No significant differences between married and unmarried mothers were found regarding mode of delivery. Even at the beginning of the 21st century unmarried status represents an important stress factor for pregnant women.     

The effect of marriage on utilization of colorectal endoscopy exam in the United States

Purpose: This study examines the association between marriage and colorectal endoscopy exam, and whether this association varies by gender and financial benefits of marriage including improved access to health insurance and pooled family income. Methods: Representative survey data of the non-institutionalized United States population were used from the 2000, 2005, and 2008 National Health Interview Survey. Analyses targeted persons 50-85 years of age without a personal history of cancer and with complete information on all study variables (n=21,760). Multivariate logistic regression was used to model marital status differences in the probability of undergoing a colorectal endoscopy exam with interaction effects used to model variation over time by gender, health insurance, and poverty level. Results: Married persons were more likely than unmarried persons to report ever having undergone a colorectal endoscopy exam (odds ratio [OR], 1.21; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12-1.29), and the difference between married and unmarried persons in the probability of undergoing a colorectal endoscopy exam remained stable over time. Married persons were more likely than unmarried persons to report having undergone a colorectal endoscopy exam within the past 10 years (OR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.15-1.95). For each survey year, married men were significantly more likely than women and unmarried men to report having undergone a colorectal endoscopy exam. For example, in 2008, 56% of married men reported having undergone a colorectal endoscopy exam, compared to 49% of unmarried men, 52% of married women, and 50% of unmarried women. Among persons with health insurance, married persons were significantly more likely than unmarried persons to have undergone a colorectal endoscopy exam. Among persons who were poor, there was no difference by marital status in the likelihood of having undergone a colorectal endoscopy exam. However, among persons who were not poor, married persons were more likely than unmarried persons to have undergone a colorectal endoscopy exam. Conclusion: Given that colorectal endoscopy exams are a potentially life-saving procedure, persistently higher uptake of colorectal endoscopy for married persons over time may be an important health promoting benefit of marriage. Therefore, clinicians and policy makers should focus on improving the use of cancer prevention services among unmarried persons.     

Bachelors,Divorcees, and Widowers: Does Marriage Protect Men from Type 2 Diabetes?

While research has suggested that being married may confer a health advantage, few studies to date have investigated the role of marital status in the development of type 2 diabetes. We examined whether men who are not married have increased risk of incident type 2 diabetes in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Men (n = 41,378) who were free of T2D in 1986, were followed for ≤22 years with biennial reports of T2D, marital status and covariates. Cox proportional hazard models were used to compare risk of incident T2D by marital status (married vs unmarried and married vs never married, divorced/separated, or widowed). There were 2,952 cases of incident T2D. Compared to married men, unmarried men had a 16% higher risk of developing T2D (95%CI:1.04,1.30), adjusting for age, family history of diabetes, ethnicity, lifestyle and body mass index (BMI). Relative risks (RR) for developing T2D differed for divorced/separated (1.09 [95%CI: 0.94,1.27]), widowed (1.29 [95%CI:1.06,1.57]), and never married (1.17 [95%CI:0.91,1.52]) after adjusting for age, family history of diabetes and ethnicity. Adjusting for lifestyle and BMI, the RR for T2D associated with widowhood was no longer significant (RR:1.16 [95%CI:0.95,1.41]). When allowing for a 2-year lag period between marital status and disease, RRs of T2D for widowers were augmented and borderline significant (RR:1.24 [95%CI:1.00,1.54]) after full adjustment. In conclusion, not being married, and more specifically, widowhood was more consistently associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in men and this may be mediated, in part, through unfavorable changes in lifestyle, diet and adiposity.     

Gender,Ethnicity, Marital Status,and Body Weight in the United States

Married individuals tend to be heavier than those who are unmarried, particularly men, and individuals in different ethnic categories vary in their involvement in marriage and in their body weights. We examined gender and ethnic differences in relationships between marital status and body weight using cross‐sectional data from the 1999–2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 3,947 women and 4,019 men. The findings revealed that compared to married men in the same ethnic category, white divorced men, black never‐married men, and all Hispanic men except for widows had lower odds of being overweight. Compared to married women in the same ethnic category, white women's weights did not significantly differ by marital status, black separated women had greater odds of being overweight, and Hispanic never‐married women had lower odds of being overweight. Associations of marriage with body weight appear to be at least partly contingent upon gender and ethnicity, which may reflect larger societal patterns of involvement in marriage, commitment to family, and body‐weight norms and expectations.     

Nonmarital Fertility, Family Structure, and the Early School Achievement of Young Children from Different Race/Ethnic and Immigration Groups

Working from a life course perspective, this study examined the links between mothers' fertility and relationship statuses and children's early school achievement and how these links varied by race/ethnicity and immigration status. Analyses of nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort revealed that children born to unmarried women scored lower than children of married women on math tests in kindergarten and first grade. This pattern was most attributable to associated differences in family income and parent education, and it was moderated by women's marital and relationship statuses after having their children. Evidence also suggested that the academic risks of some family structure pattern relative to continuously married parents might have been more pronounced for White children.     

Marriage and fatherhood are associated with lower testosterone in males

In order to study the hormonal correlates of the tradeoff between mating and parenting effort in human males, we examined the salivary testosterone (T) levels of 58 Boston-area men who were either unmarried (n=29), married without children (n=14), or married with children (n=15). Additionally, we asked participants to complete a questionnaire that surveyed their demographic, marital, and parenting backgrounds. We tested the hypotheses that (1) T levels will be lower in married than in unmarried men and (2) married men with children will have lower T levels than unmarried men and married men without children. We also tested a series of hypotheses relating variation in parenting and spousal relationships to T. We found that married men with and without children had significantly lower evening T than unmarried men. No significant differences in T were found among the groups in morning samples. Among married men without children, higher scores on a “spousal investment” measure and more hours spent with a man's wife on his last day off work were both associated with lower T levels. We suggest that lower T levels during the day among fathers may facilitate paternal care in humans by decreasing the likelihood that a father will engage in competitive and/or mating behavior.     

Ganciclovir for cytomegalovirus retinitis

We tested 98 asymptomatic women seen in state-funded contraception clinics in rural New Mexico. A fluorescein-conjugated monoclonal antibody stain revealed Chlamydia trachomatis infection in 25% of asymptomatic unmarried women and 3% of married women (P = .03). Neisseria gonorrhoeae was detected in only one woman. As in urban clinics providing contraception, the prevalence of gonorrhea is rare in rural New Mexico, but chlamydial infections are common in young unmarried women.     

Pet companionship and depression: Results from a United States Internet sample

Abstract

Using Internet survey data from 2,291 respondents from the United States, we examined socio-demographic predictors of living with a cat or dog. Logistic regressions showed that, for men, being married, living with children, being Midwestern and non-urban increased odds of living with a pet. For women, being White, having a high income, living with children, and living in a rural setting increased odds for pet ownership. Multivariate analyses examining influences of gender, marital status, and pet ownership on depression (CES-D) scores, adjusting for potential confounders, revealed that unmarried women who live with a pet have the fewest depressive symptoms, and unmarried men who live with a pet have the most. These findings suggest that single women benefit from pet companionship, whereas single men may be burdened by it.     

未婚人工流产女性生殖健康知识知晓现状调查及其影响因素分析

摘要 目的：探究未婚人工流产女性生殖健康知识知晓现状,并分析其影响因素。方法：随机选取2018年3月~2021年5月期间在同济大学附属第一妇婴保健院计划生育科终止妊娠的未婚女性486例作为研究对象。其中,拒绝调查者21例,实际调查465例,应答率95.68%（465/486）,数据清理后有效问卷459份,有效率为98.71%（459/465）。调查未婚人工流产女性生殖健康知识知晓现状,未婚人工流产女性生殖健康知识知晓情况的危险因素采用单因素及多因素Logistic回归分析。结果：研究对象中,女性生殖健康知识知晓总分最低分17分,最高分为92分,平均（65.74±10.82）分;得分大于80分者179例,优良率为39.00%（179/459）。得分在80分及其以下的女性280例。未婚人工流产女性生殖健康知识知晓情况与年龄、女方文化程度、父母婚姻状况、流产次数、工作性质、居住地、恋爱经历、男方文化程度有关（P<0.05）。而与家庭月收入、更换工作次数无关（P>0.05）。年龄、男方文化程度工作性质、居住地、女方文化程度、流产次数、父母婚姻状况是未婚人工流产女性生殖健康知识知晓情况的影响因素（P<0.05）。结论：未婚人工流产女性生殖健康知识知晓水平一般,受到年龄、女方文化程度、父母婚姻状况等多种因素影响,应针对其影响因素特点加强生殖健康知识的宣教,以降低人工流产的风险。     

Polygyny and fertility in Morocco: the effect of marital instability

This paper analyses the relationship between polygyny and female fertility in the province of Marrakech (Morocco) taking into account the effect of the previous marital instability (number of marriages) and the possible association between female sterility and type of marriage. In the analysed population, polygyny increases in the small towns. Polygynously married women have a higher level of education and show a higher percentage of use of contraceptive methods than the monogamously married ones. Although polygynously married women initially show lower fertility, multivariate analysis carried out on the group of women between 35 and 49 years old show that there are no significant differences in fertility between monogamously and polygynously married women when the effect of the previous marital instability is considerer. Female sterility does not determine marital instability, although it does determine a significant increase in polygynous marriages among the women without children.     

Predictors of fecundability and conception waits among the Dogon of Mali

Surprisingly little is known about the mechanisms that underlie variation in female fertility in humans. Data on this topic are nonetheless vital to a number of pragmatic and theoretical enterprises, including population planning, infertility treatment and prevention, and evolutionary ecology. Here we study female fertility by focusing on one component of the interbirth interval: the waiting time to conception during menstrual cycling. Our study population is a Dogon village of 460 people in Mali, West Africa. This population is pronatalist and noncontracepting. In accordance with animist beliefs, the women spend five nights sleeping at a menstrual hut during menses. By censusing the women present at the menstrual huts in the study village on each of 736 consecutive nights, we were able to monitor women's conception waits prospectively. Hormonal profiles confirm the accuracy of the data on conception waits obtained from the menstrual hut census (Strassmann [1996], Behavioral Ecology 7:304–315). Using survival analysis, we identified significant predictors of the waiting time to conception: wife's age (years), husband's age (<35, 35–49, >49 years), marital duration (years), gravidity (number of prior pregnancies), and breast-feeding status. Additional variables were not significant, including duration of postpartum amenorrhea, sex of the last child, nutritional status, economic status, polygyny, and marital status (fiancée vs. married). We fit both continuous and discrete time survival models, but the former appeared to be a better choice for these data. Am J Phys Anthropol 105:167–184, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Nonmarital Fertility,Family Structure,and the Early School Achievement of Young Children From Different Race/Ethnic and Immigration Groups

Working from a life course perspective, this study examined the links between mothers' fertility and relationship statuses and children's early school achievement and how these links varied by race/ethnicity and immigration status. Analyses of nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort revealed that children born to unmarried women scored lower than children of married women on math tests in kindergarten and first grade. This pattern was most attributable to associated differences in family income and parent education, and it was moderated by women's marital and relationship statuses after having their children. Evidence also suggested that the academic risks of some family structure pattern relative to continuously married parents might have been more pronounced for White children.     

The Influence of Change in Marital Status on Weight Change Over One Year

Marital status is an influence on body weight. Changes in marital status and body weight were examined in the National Survey of Personal Health Practices and Consequences, a telephone survey of 2,436 adults interviewed twice approximately 1 year apart. Two statistical methods for analyzing weight change were compared, and both produced similar results: regression analysis of weight change and regression analysis of weight at follow-up controlling for baseline weight. The findings revealed that women who entered marriage had greater weight change than women who remained married. Analysis of weight gain and weight loss separately showed that women who became married lost less weight than those who remained married. For men, there were no statistically significant relationships between marital change and weight change over a 1-year period. These findings support other literature showing that marital status plays a role in body weight changes. The results suggest gender differences may exist in the rate of body weight change after marriage, with more immediate changes in women than men.     

Marriage,gender and obesity in later life

A large body of literature argues that marriage promotes health and increases longevity. But do these benefits extend to maintaining a healthy body weight, as the economic theory of health investment suggests they should? They do not. Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), I find that entry into marriage among both men and women aged 51–70 is associated with weight gain and exit from marriage with weight loss. I evaluate three additional theories with respect to the cross-sectional and longitudinal variation in the data. First, it may be that a broader set of shared risk factors (such as social obligations regarding meals) raises body mass for married couples. However, the shared risk factor model predicts that the intra-couple correlation should increase with respect to marital duration. Instead, it declines. Second, scholars have recently promoted a “crisis” model of marriage in which marital transitions, not marital status, determine differences in body mass. The crisis model is consistent with short-term effects seen for divorce, but not for the persistent weight gains associated with marriage or the persistent weight loss following widowhood. And transition models, in general, cannot explain significant cross-sectional differences across marital states in a population that is no longer experiencing many transitions, nor can it account for the prominent gender differences (in late middle-age, the heaviest group is unmarried women and the lightest are unmarried men). Third, I argue that pressures of the marriage market, in combination with gendered preferences regarding partner BMI, can account for all the longitudinal and cross-sectional patterns found in the data.     

Effects of socio-economic and behavioural characteristics in explaining central obesity--a study on adult Asian Indians in Calcutta, India

The present cross-sectional study on adult Asian Indians in Calcutta, India was undertaken to look into the effects of socio-economic and behavioural characteristics in explaining waist-hip ratio (WHR). A total of 500 apparently healthy individuals (300 men and 200 women) were subjects in the study. A random sampling procedure using local voter's registration list was followed to select the subjects. Only one adult (> or = 30 years) from each household was considered as participant. A total of 24 items, 14 socio-economic and 10 behavioural characters were considered. For socio-economic characters, a number of items namely employment status, types of occupation, education status, nature of housing and marital status were taken into consideration. Smoking status, physical exercise by means of outdoor activity, drinking habits and diets on the other hand were considered as behavioural characters. Information on socio-economic and behavioural characteristics was collected using an open-ended schedule specifically designed in this regard. Anthropometric measures namely height, weight and circumference of waist and hip were obtained from participants using standard techniques. The median WHR for men and women was 0.94 and 0.90 respectively. Analysis of variance revealed significant sex difference for all anthropometric measures. It was observed that more women were leading sedentary (outdoor activity not housework was considered) life than men (85.4% vs. 75.4%). Furthermore, women were predominantly nonsmokers (98.8%) whereas 40.2% men were smokers as against 51.4% ex-smokers (those who have quitted smoking during past two years). Multiple regression analysis (adjusted for age and sex) of WHR by socio-economic and behavioural characters revealed that occupation, housing, marital status, smoking condition, physical exercise, drinking habits and diets pattern cumulatively explains 75% (R2=0.75) of total variation of WHR in the study population.     

Marital Dissolution and Child Educational Outcomes in San Borja,Bolivia

Serial monogamy is likely an adaptive mating strategy for women when the expected future fitness gains with a different partner are greater than expected future fitness with one’s current partner. Using interview data from more than 400 women in San Borja, Bolivia, discrete-time event history analyses and random effects regression analyses were conducted to examine predictors of marital dissolution, separated by remarriage status, and child educational outcomes. Male income was found to be inversely associated with women’s risk of “divorce and remarriage,” whereas female income is positively associated with women’s risk of “divorce, but not remarriage.” Children of women who divorce and remarry tend to have significantly lower educational outcomes than children of married parents, but women with higher incomes are able to buffer their children from the negative educational outcomes of divorce and remarriage. Counter to predictions, there is no evidence that women with kin in the community have a significant difference in likelihood of divorce or a buffering effect of child outcomes. In conclusion, predictors of divorce differ depending on whether the woman goes on to remarry, suggesting that male income may be a better predictor of a serial monogamy strategy whereas female income predicts marital dissolution only. Thus, women who are relatively autonomous because of greater income may not benefit from remarriage.     

Long-term trends in marital status mortality differences in The Netherlands 1850-1970

This article describes the long-term trends in marital status mortality differences in the Netherlands using a unique dataset relating to the period 1850-1970. Poisson regression analysis was applied to calculate relative mortality risks by marital status. For two periods, cause-of-death by marital status could be used. Clear differences in mortality by marital status were observed, with strongly increasing advantages for married men and women and a relative increase in the mortality of widowed compared with non-married people. Excess mortality among single and formerly married men and women was visible in many cause-of-death categories, and this became more widespread during the last decades of the nineteenth century. Hypotheses are formulated that might explain why married men and women underwent a stronger decrease in mortality up until the end of World War II.     

Men in committed, romantic relationships have lower testosterone

Variation in human male testosterone levels may reflect, and effect, differential behavioral allocation to mating and parenting effort. This proposition leads to the hypothesis that, among North American men, those involved in committed, romantic relationships will have lower testosterone levels than men not involved in such relationships. Our study is the first to examine whether being in such a relationship (rather than being married) is the meaningful predictor of male testosterone levels. To test this hypothesis, 122 male Harvard Business School students filled out a questionnaire and collected one saliva sample (from which testosterone level was measured). Results revealed that men in committed, romantic relationships had 21% lower testosterone levels than men not involved in such relationships. Furthermore, the testosterone levels of married men and unmarried men who were involved in committed, romantic relationships did not differ, suggesting that, at least for this sample, male pair bonding status is the more significant predictor of testosterone levels than is marital status.     

Perils of single life and benefits of marriage

Abstract

It has long been observed that married persons experience more favorable mortality than unmarried persons. Hypotheses about possible explanations for mortality differentials by marital status fall into three general categories: (1) hypotheses regarding errors in the data, (2) hypotheses related to the selection of persons into and out of marital states, and (3) hypotheses regarding environmental and behavioral factors associated with various marital states. In this paper the authors investigate the extent to which mortality differences by marital status are similar across populations and assess the importance of selection factors in producing the excess mortality of the single populations.     

Correcting contraceptive failure rates for sample composition and sample selection bias

Abstract

There is reason to believe that in the short run marriages are becoming more stable in some Western African countries such as Cameroon. One of the crucial questions facing these countries is whether fertility rates can be expected to increase or decrease due in part to the increased stability of marriages. Analyzing 1978 Cameroon World Fertility Survey data and using a multivariate regression model which compares the fertility rate of women who have had at least one marital disruption with that of continuously married women, we studied the relationship between marital instability and fertility. The results show that fertility rates for women married more than once are significantly lower than those for continuously married women even before the end of their first marriage. Furthermore, marital disruption significantly reduces fertility rates after the dissolution of the first marriage. Finally, even after the length of reproductive time lost is controlled, there is an inverse relationship between the number of marriages and fertility. The results are discussed in the context of economic development, modernization, and urbanization.