Pair-bond and survival in historical population: Marriage, widowhood, and social class - UTU Research Portal

A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Pair-bond and survival in historical population: Marriage, widowhood, and social class;

Authors: Pettay, Jenni E.; Lahdenperä, Mirkka; Tanskanen, Antti O.; Lummaa, Virpi; Danielsbacka, Mirkka

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Publication year: 2026

Journal: iScience

Article number: 115759

Volume: 29

Issue: 5

eISSN: 2589-0042

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.115759

Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access

Publication channel's open availability : Open Access publication channel

Web address : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.115759

Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/524404570

Self-archived copy's licence: CC BY

Self-archived copy's version: Publisher`s PDF

Abstract

Marriage is widely associated with improved health and longevity, but spousal death significantly heightens immediate mortality risk, a phenomenon known as the “widowhood effect.” While these relationships are well-documented in modern populations, their prevalence in historical societies with extended family structures is less understood. Using church book records from Finland (1730–1910) and discrete-time event models, this study examined the survival probabilities of 11,892 individuals aged 40–90 across five marital statuses, with attention to socioeconomic status. In line with previous studies, we found large detrimental short-term widowhood effect. Long-term widowhood effect was smaller, and lower in women compared to men. Survival after remarriage was similar to first-time marriage. The survival of individuals who had never married did not differ from those who were married, suggesting that more communal living may have buffered against the possible negative effects of being single.

Keywords:

Association between, HIGHLIGHTS, Remarried, Short term

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Funding information in the publication:
The study is funded by the Strategic Research Council established within the Research Council of Finland to the NetResilience consortium (grant nos. 364371 and 364385) and the INVEST Research Flagship (grant no. 345546). We also acknowledge funding from the Research Council of Finland (ML, grant no. 371390; AOT, grant no. 338869), European Research Council to KinSocieties (V.L., ERC-2022-ADG, grant no. 101098266), Human Diversity consortium, under the Profi7 program (VL, ML, grant no. 352727) and the Centre of Excellence (grant no. 374221) by the Research Council of Finland. We thank all the genealogists and research assistants involved in collecting and digitizing parish records for this study, particularly Kimmo Pokkinen and Aino Siitonen. We also want to thank anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.