Events
"Death and Marriage. Conventional Wisdom and Unsolved Puzzles"
by Professor Ichiro Kawachi, Professor of Social Epidemiology and Director of the Harvard Center for Society and Health, Harvard School of Public Health

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Date: November 22, 2007 (Thursday)
Time: 12:30 – 14:00 (sandwich lunch from 12:30 –12:45; seminar begins at 12:45)
Venue: Mrs Chen Yang Foo Oi Telemedicine Centre, 2/F, William MW Mong Block, Faculty of Medicine Building, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

Abstract:
Countless studies have appeared on the relationship between marital status and mortality. The conventional wisdom is that (a) married individuals live longer than unmarried individuals (never married, separated/divorced, widowed); and (b) men benefit more from being married than women. Is there any basis for the conventional wisdom? For example, is the observed association between marital status a causal one, or does it simply reflect selection and endogeneity? Is it really true that men benefit more from marriage than women, or is the pattern changing?

In this presentation, Professor Kawachi will review the causal theories and evidence on marital status and health, discussing the literature from public health, sociology, economics, and psychology. He will discuss recent evidence which suggests that the male advantage in the mortality dividend from being married is disappearing. Finally, he will discuss how everything looks different in Asia when it comes to marriage and mortality.

Bio-sketch:
Ichiro Kawachi is Professor of Social Epidemiology, and the Director of the Harvard Center for Society and Health, at the Harvard School of Public Health. Kawachi received his medical degree and Ph.D. (epidemiology) from the University of Otago, New Zealand. He has taught at the Harvard School of Public Health since 1992.

Kawachi has published over 300 papers on the social and economic determinants of population health. He was the co-editor (with Lisa Berkman) of the first textbook on Social Epidemiology, published by Oxford University Press in 2000. Other books include The Health of Nations with Bruce Kennedy (The New Press, 2002), Neighborhoods and Health with Lisa Berkman (Oxford University Press, 2003), Globalization and Health with Sarah Wamala (Oxford University Press, 2006), and most recently, Social Capital and Health (Springer, 2008).

Kawachi is the Editor of the Social Epidemiology section of the international journal Social Science & Medicine.

Registration:
For registration and enquiries, please call Ms Maggie Cheuk at 2819-2841 or email mhrn@hkusua.hku.hk