Work limiting health and divorce behaviour: a retrospective analysis with SIPP data. Issue 25 (28th May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yu, Peijingran; Couch, Kenneth A.
• Is Part Of: Applied economics. Volume 53:Issue 25(2021)
• Page Start: 2799
• Page End: 2831
• Publication Date: 2021-05-28
• Subjects: Ageing -- disabled Persons -- disabilities -- divorce; I0 -- I1 -- J0 -- J1; Economics -- Periodicals; 330
• DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2020.1869166
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-6846

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study examines the influence of six work-limiting health conditions that appear to arrive largely unexpectedly for married men and women – cancer, carpal tunnel syndrome, deafness or serious trouble hearing, paralysis, thyroid trouble and tumour cyst or growth – on subsequent divorce. Using information contained in the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation, we select men and women who are once married and had no health conditions prior to the first marriage into the sample. We find that divorce behaviour is not explained by the onset of unexpected health conditions while it is closely related to the onset of the more predictable set of all health conditions. The patterns of response vary by race and ethnicity. The article contributes to the literature by providing a more detailed comparison between the effects of less predictable health conditions on subsequent divorce behaviour versus the average effect of any work-limiting health problem.