Background : Marriage has a positive effect on health. After the dissolution of a marriage, the health of divorcees worsens. The focus of this paper is on whether remarriage can help a person regain the health benefits that comes with marriage.
Methods: This study used the national baseline data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a survey conducted from 2011 to 2012, this article applies instrumental variables to deal with the endogenous problems and to investigate the association between remarriage after divorce and late-life health.
Result: According to descriptive statistics, among the 235 middle-aged and elderly respondents with a history of divorce, 46% remarried, 75% of them thought their SRH was fair or bad, 15% of them suffered from ADL impairment and the scale score for depression averaged 9.33 ( SD =7.1). According to the regression results, compared with divorcees who have not remarried, those who remarry suffer less from depression and have better self-rated health. There are gender differences reflected in the relationship between remarriage after divorce and mental health. Remarriage can promote the mental health of men, but there is no significant correlation between remarriage and the mental health of women. Conclusion: Marriage has a protective effect on health, and remarriage can help people regain the health benefits. Key words: ADL ; Depression; Self-rated health ; Instrumental variable; Remarriage after divorce