Married Men’s Coresidence with Parents or In-Laws and Later Life Mortality

Mortality studies comparing married men to never-married or formerly married men have consistently found that married men have a noticeable mortality advantage. This paper takes a novel perspective—examining mortality outcomes from the perspective of married men only and comparing those who coreside with any parents, in-laws, or their spouse only. The analyses use CenSoc data set, consisting of the 1940 Full Count United States Census linked to the Social Security Administration Death Master Files and includes 1.7 million married men between the ages of 21 and 45 years old residing with their spouse, and who died between 1975 and 2005. The results show that married men who live with only a spouse but no parental generations have an older age at death, and being a household head has an additional advantage. Living with either or both of their parents is associated with a reduction in life of 4 months, or 2 months for those who live with their in-laws. The conclusion reached is that longevity is associated with the possible burden of living with one’s parents, coupled with the reasons that may have led to the particular living arrangement. The effect of coresidence is, in turn, filtered through expectations about intergenerational relationships and norms regarding coresidence. The coresidence experience can become part of a trajectory, leading to declines in longevity.