In general, married people are more likely to engage in
positive and less likely to engage in negative health behaviors
than widowed, divorced, or single people [10-13].
Some studies have suggested that the social ties, social networks,
and/or social support, which marriage often provides,
may reduce the risk of mortality [8,14,15].
Moreover, women in Japan tend to receive more social
supports from the national government and from their
relatives than do men. For instance, widows receive their
deceased husband's pension as well as their own from the
government, but widowers only their own pension. In
addition, the national government provides child support
for divorced women. Finally, many Japanese women
return to live with their parents after a divorce (16%) or
live with their children after their spouse's death (64%)
[16]. Hence, there could be gender differences in adapting
to the loss or the absence of a spouse among Japanese
but the effects of divorce or widowhood on mortality
were not be thoroughly examined in that study due to
the limited number of deaths [9].