%0 Journal Article %J J Health Soc Behav %D 2016 %T Marital Histories and Heavy Alcohol Use among Older Adults. %A Reczek, Corinne %A Tetyana Pudrovska %A Deborah Carr %A Thomeer, Mieke Beth %A Debra Umberson %K Adult %K Age Factors %K Aged %K Alcohol Drinking %K Divorce %K Female %K Humans %K Male %K Marital Status %K Marriage %K Middle Aged %K Models, Psychological %K Socioeconomic factors %X

We develop a gendered marital biography approach-which emphasizes the accumulating gendered experiences of singlehood, marriage, marital dissolution, and remarriage-to examine the relationship between marital statuses and transitions and heavy alcohol use. We test this approach using individual-level (n = 10,457) and couple-level (n = 2,170) longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study, and individual-level (n = 46) and couple-level (n = 42) in-depth interview data. Quantitative results show that marriage, including remarriage, reduces men's but increases women's drinking relative to being never married and previously married, whereas divorce increases men's but decrease women's drinking, with some variation by age. Our qualitative findings reveal that social control and convergence processes underlie quantitative results. We call attention to how men's and women's heavy drinking trajectories stop, start, and change direction as individuals move through their distinctive marital biography.

%B J Health Soc Behav %I 57 %V 57 %P 77-96 %8 2016 Mar %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26957135?dopt=Abstract %2 PMC4785832 %4 marital status/alcohol use/drinking trajectories/drinking %$ 999999 %R 10.1177/0022146515628028 %0 Book Section %B Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development %D 2008 %T Data sources, Later Life: Health and Retirement Study (HRS) %A Mary Beth Ofstedal %E Deborah Carr %E Crosnoe, Robert %E Mary Elizabeth Hughes %E Pienta, Amy M. %K Methodology %X This reference is an entry in Volume 3 of the Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development; it discusses the Health and Retirement Study as a data source for research on the Later Life stage of the life course. %B Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development %I Gale %C Farmington Hills, MI %V 3 %@ 978-0-02-866162-9 %G eng %4 Methodology/Microeconomic Data Management %$ 62606 %6 3 %! Data sources, Later Life: Health and Retirement Study (HRS)