This article uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Survey to examine the association between transitioning to marriage and general health status or serious health problems among low-income men. Beginning with a sample of 3,631 unmarried fathers, the study observes the relationship between their transitions to marriage within 3 years after the birth of their child and their health status 5 years postbirth. The authors also explore if unmarried fathers benefit from marrying mothers who have health insurance. Results indicate that transitions to marriage and transitions to marriage with mothers who have health insurance, are associated with fewer serious health problems. The authors did not observe a significant relationship between transitioning to marriage and general health, likely because the sample comprised men who were young (average age was 26 years) and in very good health.
Anderson, E. ( 2000). Code of the street: Decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city. New York: W. W. Norton.
2.
Bierman, A., Fazio, E., & Milkie, M. ( 2006). A multifaceted approach to the mental health advantage of the married. Journal of Family Issues, 27, 554-582.
3.
Blank, R.M., & Schmidt, L. ( 2001). Work, wages, and welfare. In R. M. Blank & R. Haskins (Eds.), The new world of welfare (pp. 70-102). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
4.
Brown, E.R., Ojeda, V.D., Wyn, R., & Levan, R. ( 2000). Racial and ethnic disparities in access to health insurance and health care. Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation .
5.
Brunson, R.K. ( 2007). "Police don’t like Black people": African-American young men’s accumulated police experiences. Criminology & Public Policy, 6, 71-102.
6.
Chernew, M., Cutler, D.M., & Keenan, P.S. ( 2005). Increasing health insurance costs and the decline in insurance coverage. Health Research & Educational Trust , 40, 1021-1039.
7.
Cohen, R.A., & Martinez, M.E. (2007). Health insurance coverage: Early release of estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, 2006. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
8.
Courtenay, W.H. ( 2000). Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men’s wellbeing: A theory of gender and health. Social Science & Medicine, 50, 1385-1401.
9.
Department of Health and Human Services. ( 1998). HHS letter to State Medicaid and TANF Administrators . Washington, DC: Author.
10.
Department of Health and Human Services. ( 2005). Medicaid at a glance (Publication No. CMS-11024-05). Washington, DC: Author.
11.
England, P., & Shafer, E.F. ( 2007). Everyday gender conflicts in low-income couples . In P. England & K. Edin (Eds.), Unmarried couples with children (pp. 55-83). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
12.
Gelman, A., & Hill, J. ( 2006). Data analysis using regression and multilevel/hierarchical models. New York: Cambridge University Press.
13.
Goesling, B., & Koball, H. ( 2008). Marriage and health care coverage among families with children (ASPE Research Brief). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
14.
Goldman, N. ( 1993). Marriage selection and mortality patterns: Inferences and fallacies. Demography, 30, 189-208.
15.
Hadley, J. ( 2007). Insurance coverage, medical care use, and short-term health changes following an unintentional injury or the onset of a chronic condition. Journal of the American Medical Association, 297, 1073-1084.
16.
Hamilton, B.E., Martin, J.A., & Ventura, S.J. ( 2006). Births: Preliminary data for 2005. National Vital Statistics Reports (Vol. 55). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics .
17.
Harknett, K., & McLanahan, S.S. (2004). Racial and ethnic differences in marriage after the birth of a child. American Sociological Review, 69, 790-811.
18.
Hill, M.N., Bone, L.R., Kim, M.T., Miller, D.J., Dennison, C.R., & Levine, D.M. ( 1999). Barriers to hypertension care and control in young urban black men. American Journal of Hypertension, 12, 951-958.
19.
Hofferth, S.L., Pleck, J., Stueve, J.L., Bianchi, S., & Sayer, L. ( 2002). The demography of what fathers do. In C. S. Tamis-LeMonda & N. Cabrera (Eds.), Handbook of father involvement (pp. 63-90). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
20.
Holzer, H.J., & Offner, P. ( 2006). Trends in the employment outcomes of young black men, 1972-2000. In R. B. Mincy (Ed.), Black males left behind (pp. 11-37). Washington, DC : Urban Institute Press.
21.
Isaacs, S., & Schroeder, S. ( 2004). Class-The ignored determinant of the nation’s health . New England Journal of Medicine, 351, 1137-1142.
22.
Koball, H., Moiduddin, E., Henderson, J., Goesling, B., & Besculides, M. (2010). What do we know about the link between marriage and health?Journal of Family Issues , 31, 1019-1040.
23.
Lantz, P.M., Lynch, J.W., House, J.S., Lepkowski, J.M., Mero, R.R., Musick, M.A., et al. (2001). Socioeconomic disparities in health change in a longitudinal study of US adults: The role of health-risk behaviors. Social Science & Medicine, 53, 29-40.
24.
Levy, H., & Meltzer, D. ( 2001). What do we really know about whether health insurance affects health? Economic research initiative of the uninsured working paper . Ann Arbor: University of Michigan .
25.
Lichter, D.T., LeClere, F.B., & McLaughlin, D.K. (1991). Local marriage markets and the marital behavior of black and white women. American Journal of Sociology, 96, 843-867.
26.
Lichter, D.T., McLaughlin, D.K., Kephart, G., & Landry, D. ( 1992). Race and the retreat from marriage: A shortage of marriageable men? American Sociological Review, 57, 781-799.
27.
Lichter, D.T., McLaughlin, D.K., & Ribar, D.C. ( 2002). Economic restructuring and the retreat from marriage . Social Science Research, 31, 230-256.
28.
Little, R.J.A., & Rubin, D.B. ( 2002). Statistical analysis with missing data (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley.
29.
Maddala, G.S. ( 1993). The econometrics of panel data (Vols. 1&2). Brookfield, VT: Elgar.
30.
Manning, W. ( 1993). Marriage and cohabitation following premarital conception . Journal of Marriage and the Family, 55, 839-850.
31.
Manning, W., & Landale, N.S. ( 1996). Racial and ethnic differences in the role of cohabitation and premarital childbearing. Journal of Marriage and the Family , 58, 63-77.
32.
Marcussen, K. ( 2005). Explaining differences in mental health between married and cohabitating individuals. Social Psychology, 68, 239-257.
33.
McLanahan, S., Garfinkel, I., Reichman, N., Teitler, J., Carlson, M., & Audigier, C.N. (2003). The fragile families and child wellbeing study baseline national report. Princeton, NJ: Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing .
34.
Mincy, R.B., Hill, J., & Sinkewicz, M. ( 2009). Marriage: Cause or mere indicator of future earnings growth?Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 28, 417-439.
35.
Mincy, R.B., Lewis, C.E., & Han, J. ( 2006). Left behind: Less-educated young black men in the economic boom of the 1990s. In R. B. Mincy (Ed.), Black males left behind (pp. 1-10). Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
36.
Moynihan, C. ( 1998). Theories in health care and research: Theories of masculinity . British Medical Journal, 317, 1072-1075.
37.
Reichman, N.E., Teitler, J.O., Garfinkel, I., & McLanahan, S. ( 2001). Fragile families: Sample and design. Children and Youth Services Review, 23, 303-326.
38.
Ross, C.E., & Mirowsky, J. ( 2001). Neighborhood disadvantage, disorder, and health . Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42, 258-276.
39.
Royster, M.O., Richmond, A., Eng, E., & Margolis, L. ( 2006). Hey brother, how’s your health? A focus group analysis of the health and health-related concerns of African American men in a southern city in the United States. Men and Masculinities , 8, 389-404.
40.
Royston, P. ( 2007). Multiple imputations of missing values: Future update of ice, with an emphasis on interval censoring. Stata Journal , 7, 445-464.
41.
Satcher, D.J., Fryer, G.E., McCann, J., Troutman, D., Woolf, S.H., & Rust, G. ( 2005). What if we were equal? A comparison of the Black-White mortality gap in 1960 and 2000. Health Affairs, 24, 459-464.
42.
Stewart, S.D., Manning, W.D., & Smock, P.J. ( 2003). Union formation among men in the U.S.: Does have prior children matter? Journal of Marriage and Family, 65, 90-104.
43.
Stutzer, A., & Frey, B.S. ( 2006). Does marriage make people happy, or do happy people get married? Journal of Socio-Economics, 35, 326-347.
44.
Treadwell, H.R., & Ro, M. ( 2003). Poverty, race, and the invisible men. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 705-707.
45.
Waite, L.J., Bachrach, C., Hindin, M., Thomson, E., & Thornton, A. ( 2000). The ties that bind: Perspectives on marriage and cohabitation . New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
46.
Waite, L.J., & Gallagher, M. ( 2000). The case for marriage: Why married people are happier, healthier and better off financially. New York : Doubleday.
47.
Wilcox, W.B., & Wolfinger, N.H. (2008). Living and loving "decent": Religion and relationship quality among urban parents. Social Science Direct, 37, 828-843.
48.
Woolfe, S.H., Johnson, R.E., Phillips, R.L., & Philipsen, M. ( 2007). Giving everyone the health of the educated: An examination of whether social change would save more lives than medical advances . American Journal of Public Health, 97, 679-683.
49.
Wu, Z., Penning, M.J., Pollard, M.J., & Hart, R. ( 2003). "In sickness and in health": Does cohabitation count?Journal of Family Issues, 24, 811-838.
