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Cohabitation and Mortality Across the Life Course: A Longitudinal Cohort Study with Swedish Register-Based Sibling
Jesper Lindmarker1,2, Martin Kolk3,4,5, Sven Drefahl3
1Institute of Analytical Sociology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. jesper.lindmarker@liu.se.
European Journal of Population = Revue Europeenne De Demographie
|January 14, 2025
Summary
Cohabitation
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Demography
- Public Health
Background:
- Marriage is linked to increased longevity compared to unmarried status.
- Cohabitation's mortality risk is less understood, particularly across life stages.
- Previous research suggests cohabiting individuals have mortality rates between married and unmarried groups.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between cohabitation and mortality across different ages in Sweden.
- To examine if cohabitation's mortality association varies by life course stage.
- To assess the impact of family-of-origin on cohabitation-mortality links using a sibling comparison.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Swedish population register data from 2012-2017 (N = 5,572,011).
- Analyzed mortality risks associated with various partnership statuses (married, cohabiting, never-married, divorced, widowed).
- Employed a sibling comparison design to control for family-of-origin effects.
Main Results:
- Cohabitation's mortality risk is diverse and age-dependent.
- Never-married cohabiters showed similar mortality to married individuals at younger ages, with risk increasing over time.
- Divorced and widowed cohabiters displayed an inverse age gradient in mortality risk.
Conclusions:
- The mortality risk associated with cohabitation is not uniform and varies significantly by age and prior marital status.
- Future research should explore how cohabitation contexts evolve across the life course.
- Findings highlight the heterogeneity within the cohabiting population regarding longevity.
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