Marital formation in individuals with work-related permanent impairment

Prior studies on the impact of disabling work injury have neglected social support as a key mediating factor. This study investigates how permanent impairment from a work injury affects marital formation, an indicator of social support and integration with the potential to affect psychosocial adjustment and the resumption of productive social roles following work injury.

Adjusting for socio-demographic and economic factors associated with marriage ability, we expect that individuals with a work-related permanent impairment will have a lower rate of marital formation compared to their non-injured counterparts.

Drawing on a linkage of workers' compensation claims data with income tax information, we undertake a duration modeling analysis comparing workers who have sustained a workplace injury with a matched sample of non-injured controls to examine time to marital formation in each group.

Women who suffered a disabling work injury were 17% less likely to marry relative to controls. High levels of physical impairment reduced the rate of marriage in women by 22%. We did not find an effect of impairment on marriage probability in models adjusted for income in men.

Our findings underscore the importance of examining the social and interpersonal consequences of work injury, factors not currently addressed by the occupational rehabilitation system.