Abstract
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Research
has shown that married men and women have better physical and psychological
health and greater longevity than their unmarried counterparts. However, the
past 50 years have witnessed changes in the marriage and divorce rates,
resulting in more people at older ages who are unmarried or with varied
relationship histories. Given the strong association between marriage and
health there could potentially be more people at older ages in poorer health,
which may be particularly detrimental given the ageing population. Whilst
there is much research looking at marriage and physical and psychological
health there is little on marriage and physical capability. Physical
capability is the capacity to perform the physical tasks of daily living and
is predictive of mortality and future social care use. This PhD investigates
the relationship between marriage and physical capability at mid to later
life using two measures - grip strength and walking speed - from two
nationally representative datasets of people aged 50 years and over in
England and the USA. Cross-sectional associations between marriage and
physical capability are investigated in a comparative analysis between
England and the USA, and longitudinal associations through examining changes
in walking speed over a ten year period in England. A descriptive analysis of
early life circumstances and its association with entry into and exit out of
marriage in England and the USA is also carried out. Findings show that
married people had both higher levels of current physical capability and a
slower decline in physical capability over time than their unmarried
counterparts. Much of the "marriage advantage" is explained by their greater
wealth, but there were some unexplained associations, particularly among
widowed men. There were few gender and country differences in the
association. The results of this thesis suggest that marriage is important
for maintaining physical capability for people at mid to later life in England
and the USA.
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