408 Chapter 11study concluded that marital dissolution was
more important than marital formations in
predicting health in terms of weight loss.
Three other studies showed that changes
in marital status or marital transitions are asso-
ciated with more health problems rather than
marital status per se. An eight-year longitudi-
nal study showed that the health of the con-
tinually divorced and never married was the
same as the continually married (Williams &
Umberson, 2004). Transitions out of marriage
through divorce or widowhood were associ-
ated with adverse effects on health, and these
effects were stronger for men than women.
The negative effects were also stronger for
older men, which supports the role strain argu-
ment as older men are probably less prepared
to assume household chores than younger
men. Another longitudinal study showed that
never-married women had the same health as
continuously married women and that both
groups had better health than women whose
marital status had changed over the course of
the study (Hughes & Waite, 2009). However,
this was not the case for men, as never-married
men had worse health and more depression
than continuously married men. Finally, a
two-year longitudinal study showed that the
consistently married had the same level of
distress as the consistently widowed (Strohs-
chein et al., 2005) but distress increased among
those who were widowed during the two years.
These findings support the crisis model rather
than the resource model of marriage.TAKE HOME POINT
■ Transitions out of marriage seem to have stronger ad-
verse health consequences than the specific unmarried
states, supporting the crisis rather than the resource
model of marriage.a loss of support, whereas women’s strains are largely
financial.
■ To the extent that women adjust better than men to
relationship dissolution, reasons might be that women
are more likely to initiate the breakup, are more aware
of problems in the relationship, and more prepared for
a breakup.Marital Transitions and Health
Most of the research on the relation of marital
status to health implicitly adopts the “resource
model,” implying that marriage is a resource
that promotes health or protects health.
However, an alternative model is the “crisis
model,” which suggests that the dissolution
of a relationship through divorce or widow-
hood causes declines in health (Williams &
Umberson, 2004). The only way to disen-
tangle the two models is to conduct a longi-
tudinal study in which one not only compares
people of different marital statuses but also
examines the effects of changes in marital
statuses on health. One such study examined
the effects of marital transitions rather than
marital status on weight loss (Umberson,
Liu, & Powers, 2009), considering that weight
loss is a risk factor for mortality. Umberson
and colleagues found that the continuously
married, never married, and divorced showed
a small increase in weight over time—with
the exception of African American women
who showed a larger weight gain. Weight
loss, however, was tied to the loss of a spouse
through divorce or widowhood. The transi-
tion to divorce was associated with a short-
term weight loss that was later regained, but
the transition to widowhood was associated
with a substantial weight loss that remained—
more so among African Americans. Thus, thisM11_HELG0185_04_SE_C11.indd 408 6/21/11 12:43 PM