Marital Status and Health Behavior in Middle-aged Korean Adults

Background: Marital status is as an important sociodemographic variable for health studies. We assessed the association between marital status and health behavior in middle-aged Korean adults.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of 2,522 Korean middle-aged adults (1,049 men, 1,473 women) from the 2010 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The subjects were classified as living with a partner or living without a partner (never married, separated, widowed, and divorced). We assessed the relationship between marital status and five health behaviors (smoking, high-risk alcohol intake, regular exercise, regular breakfast consumption, and undergoing periodic health screening).

Results: Age, income level, educational level, and occupational classification were all significantly associated with marital status. The risk of undergoing health screening (odds ratio [OR], 0.53; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.32 to 0.90) and having regular breakfast (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.27 to 0.92) were significantly lower in men living without a partner than with a partner. Women living without a partner had a higher smoking risk (OR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.09 to 4.73) and a higher risk of high-risk alcohol consumption (OR, 5.33; 95% CI, 1.65 to 17.24) than their counterparts.

Conclusion: Korean middle-aged adults living with partners are more likely to have healthier behavior than living without a partner. The association between marital status and health behaviors differed by sex.