TY  - CHAP
AB  - Purpose Despite mixed evidence, researchers often suggest that married adults tend to live generally healthier lifestyles than their unmarried counterparts. In this chapter, we propose and test a reconceptualization of the health lifestyle that distinguishes between “homebody” risks and “hedonic” risks that may help to make sense of previous findings concerning marriage and health-related behavior.Methodology/approach Using data from the 2004 Survey of Adults (n = 1,385), we employ ordinary least squares regression to model indices of normative and conventional homebody risks (greater body mass, infrequent exercise, poorer diet, and abstinence from alcohol) and unconventional and potentially dangerous hedonic risks (smoking, heavy drinking, going out to bars, eating out, inadequate sleep, and driving without seatbelts) as a function of marital status.Findings Our key findings indicate that married adults tend to score higher on homebody risks and lower on hedonic risks than never married adults, net of controls for age, gender, race/ethnicity, citizenship, interview language, education, employment status, household income, and religious involvement.Research limitations/implications Research limitations include cross-sectional data, restricted indicators of health-related behavior, and narrow external validity.Originality/value Contrary to previous research, we conclude that the lifestyle of married adults is not uniformly healthy.
VL  - 34
SN  - 978-1-78635-467-9, 978-1-78635-468-6/0275-4959
DO  - 10.1108/S0275-495920160000034013
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S0275-495920160000034013
AU  - Ross Catherine E.
AU  - Hill Terrence D.
AU  - Mirowsky John
PY  - 2016
Y1  - 2016/01/01
TI  - Reconceptualizing Health Lifestyles: The Case of Marriage
T2  - Special Social Groups, Social Factors and Disparities in Health and Health Care
T3  - Research in the Sociology of Health Care
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 243
EP  - 260
Y2  - 2024/04/24
ER  -