# Marriage and Health in Malawi

> **NIH NIH R03** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $74,436

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
To date, the vast majority of research on marriage and health has almost exclusively focused on
Europe or North America. Despite the centrality of marriage to social life in sub-Saharan Africa
(SSA), research on its relationship with health is still in its nascent stages in this context. While
these early studies have documented that marriage and health are indeed interrelated, there
has been little consideration of the implications of other key features of the African context, such
as different marriage patterns and customs (e.g., early marriage, polygyny), persistence of
traditional gender norms, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, for the link between marriage and health.
The limited body of research in sub-Saharan Africa suggests that it is a unique and important
setting to study the relationship between marriage and health, with social norms, infectious
diseases, and marital practices that differ from contexts where most research on marriage and
health have been set. In this proposed study, we intend to use a rich, longitudinal dataset to
examine the link between marriage and health in Malawi. In doing so, we address several
methodological challenges that have affected research on this relationship. We use longitudinal
data and statistical approaches to reduce common biases in examining the connection between
marriage and mental and physical health, such as unobserved characteristics associated with
both marriage and heath, and the selection of individuals with different health status into marital
change (mainly remarriage and dissolution). We take advantage of detailed retrospective
marriage histories to identify union start and end dates, status of marriage (still married,
divorced/separated, and widowed), reasons for divorce/separation, and polygynous unions. We
also combine data from husbands and wives to produce a couple-level dataset that is used to
conduct dyadic analyses. We use a validated instrument (the SF-12) that measures multiple
dimensions of mental and physical health, as well as specific subscales of each (e.g.,
depression, anxiety, physical functioning). We analyze data from individuals aged 15 to over 80
years, which allows us to account for differences in the marriage-health relationship across the
life course. Finally, we take advantage of data collected from migrants who have left the study
area to minimize attrition bias and account for the connection between marriage and migration.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10839384
- **Project number:** 5R03HD111618-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Philip Anthony Anglewicz
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $74,436
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-05-09 → 2026-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10839384

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10839384, Marriage and Health in Malawi (5R03HD111618-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10839384. Licensed CC0.

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