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Barclay KJ, Thorén RD, Hanson HA, Smith KR. The Effects of Marital Status, Fertility, and Bereavement on Adult Mortality in Polygamous and Monogamous Households: Evidence From the Utah Population Database. Demography 2020; 57:2169-2198. [PMID: 32935302 PMCID: PMC7732802 DOI: 10.1007/s13524-020-00918-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Although the associations among marital status, fertility, bereavement, and adult mortality have been widely studied, much less is known about these associations in polygamous households, which remain prevalent across much of the world. We use data from the Utah Population Database on 110,890 women and 106,979 men born up to 1900, with mortality follow-up into the twentieth century. We examine how the number of wife deaths affects male mortality in polygamous marriages, how sister wife deaths affect female mortality in polygamous marriages relative to the death of a husband, and how marriage order affects the mortality of women in polygamous marriages. We also examine how the number of children ever born and child deaths affect the mortality of men and women as well as variation across monogamous and polygamous unions. Our analyses of women show that the death of a husband and the death of a sister wife have similar effects on mortality. Marriage order does not play a role in the mortality of women in polygamous marriages. For men, the death of one wife in a polygamous marriage increases mortality to a lesser extent than it does for men in monogamous marriages. For polygamous men, losing additional wives has a dose-response effect. Both child deaths and lower fertility are associated with higher mortality. We consistently find that the presence of other kin in the household—whether a second wife, a sister wife, or children—mitigates the negative effects of bereavement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kieron J Barclay
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany. .,Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. .,Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, Uppsala, Sweden.
| | | | - Heidi A Hanson
- Population Science, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.,Department of Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Ken R Smith
- Population Science, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.,Department of Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
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van den Berg N, Rodríguez-Girondo M, van Dijk IK, Mourits RJ, Mandemakers K, Janssens AAPO, Beekman M, Smith KR, Slagboom PE. Longevity defined as top 10% survivors and beyond is transmitted as a quantitative genetic trait. Nat Commun 2019; 10:35. [PMID: 30617297 PMCID: PMC6323124 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07925-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2018] [Accepted: 12/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Survival to extreme ages clusters within families. However, identifying genetic loci conferring longevity and low morbidity in such longevous families is challenging. There is debate concerning the survival percentile that best isolates the genetic component in longevity. Here, we use three-generational mortality data from two large datasets, UPDB (US) and LINKS (Netherlands). We study 20,360 unselected families containing index persons, their parents, siblings, spouses, and children, comprising 314,819 individuals. Our analyses provide strong evidence that longevity is transmitted as a quantitative genetic trait among survivors up to the top 10% of their birth cohort. We subsequently show a survival advantage, mounting to 31%, for individuals with top 10% surviving first and second-degree relatives in both databases and across generations, even in the presence of non-longevous parents. To guide future genetic studies, we suggest to base case selection on top 10% survivors of their birth cohort with equally long-lived family members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niels van den Berg
- Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Section of Molecular Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands.
- Department of Family and Consumer Studies, Population Sciences, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, 225 S. 1400 E. Rm 228, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
- Radboud Group for Historical Demography and Family History, Radboud University, Erasmusplein 1, 6525 HT, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Mar Rodríguez-Girondo
- Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Section of Medical Statistics, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Ingrid K van Dijk
- Radboud Group for Historical Demography and Family History, Radboud University, Erasmusplein 1, 6525 HT, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Rick J Mourits
- Radboud Group for Historical Demography and Family History, Radboud University, Erasmusplein 1, 6525 HT, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Kees Mandemakers
- International Institute of Social History, Cruquiusweg 31, 1019 AT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Angelique A P O Janssens
- Radboud Group for Historical Demography and Family History, Radboud University, Erasmusplein 1, 6525 HT, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Marian Beekman
- Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Section of Molecular Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Ken R Smith
- Department of Family and Consumer Studies, Population Sciences, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, 225 S. 1400 E. Rm 228, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - P Eline Slagboom
- Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Section of Molecular Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Joseph-Stelzmann-Str. 9b, 50931, Cologne, Germany
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Abstract
One of the most consistent findings in social demography is that recently widowed individuals, male or female, have higher rates of mortality than comparable married persons. These results are based generally on contemporary studies in developed nations where life expectancy is high. Because of data limitations, there are few studies available to determine whether these findings also occur when mortality rates were higher. This study uses the Utah Population Database that was developed from extensive family genealogies and now linked to Utah death certificates. These data make it possible to employ life course analysis of four marriage cohorts extending from 1860 through 1904 with mortality follow-up to 1990. This approach is used to compare mortality risks of widowed males and females relative to comparable married individuals. Covariates included in the study are remarriage, as well as religion and number of children ever born; these are all hypothesized to have protective effects on mortality risks for widowed men and women. Analysis of these data indicates that there are significant differences in the mortality risk for widowed men and women, and it is widowed men who have an excess risk of dying in every cohort and nearly every age. A consistent pattern of excess mortality in the comparison of married and widowed women was not observed. There are significant female and male differences in the effect of religion which was treated as a proxy for life style and social support: however, remarriage as a proxy for social support has similar protective effects on the surviving spouse.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geraldine P Mineau
- Department of Oncological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City 84112-5550, USA.
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Courtwright DT. The neglect of female children and childhood sex ratios in nineteenth-century America: a review of the evidence. JOURNAL OF FAMILY HISTORY 1990; 15:313-323. [PMID: 11622444 DOI: 10.1177/036319909001500304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Antebellum census records show that there were slightly higher than average numbers of male children in the western states and territories of the United Stales and slightly lower than average numbers of male children in eastern areas. It has been suggested that this imbalance was due to the economically inspired neglect of female children in rural and frontier areas, but this hypothesis does not hold up to close inspection. Better explanations are that more boys were born in, survived childhood in, or moved to western regions.
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