Beyond Material Explanations

Family Solidarity and Mortality, a Small Area-level Analysis

Bibliographic Data

ID4121604
AuthorsJon Anson (0000-0002-8150-9428, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume36
Issue1
Pages27-45
Publication date2010-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopulation and Development Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0098-7921 • E-ISSN: 1728-4457
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1728-4457.2010.00316.x
OpenAlexW1969546528
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited75

Social solidarity, being embedded in a network of binding social relationships, tends to extend human longevity. Yet while average incomes in the Western world, and with them, life expectancies, have risen dramatically, the second demographic transition has occasioned a breakdown in traditional family forms. This article considers whether these trends in family life may have slowed the rise in life expectancy. I present a cross-sectional analysis of Israeli statistical areas (SAs), for which I construct indexes of Standard of Living (SOL), Traditional Family Structure (TFS), and Religiosity (R). I show that (1) increases in all three of these indexes are associated with lower levels of mortality, (2) male mortality is more sensitive to differences in SOL and TFS than is female mortality, and (3) net of differences in SOL and TFS, there is no difference in the mortality levels of Arab and Jewish populations

Demographic economics · Economics · Geography · Life expectancy · Longevity · Mortality rate · Political science · Population · Religiosity · Sociology · Solidarity · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Gerontology

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