HEALTH AMD MARITAL EXPERIENCE IN AN URBAN POPULATION

A probability sample of 4,452 households in Alameda county, Calif, yielded 6,928 adult R's to a questionaire survey on health & way of life. Analysis was confined to the 5,373 white & black people who were currently married, separated or divorced at the time of the survey. Divorced people were somewhat more likely than married to report physical disability, chronic illness, neurosis, depression & isolation, but those who had remarried & were happy were less likely to report health problems than the unhappily married who had never divorced. Unhappily married people were less healthy than either divorced or the happily married of the same race, sex & age. These findings indicate that: (1) physical & psychol'al health are associated with marital happiness regardless of marital history, & (2) at the same time, divorce & remarriage tend to 'select' the healthier members of the unhappily married pop. Modified HA.