Do Family Ties Reduce Mortality? Evidence from the United States, 1966-1968

National survey data are used to compute mortality rates for persons in different living arrangements. Mortality is lowerfor married persons than for nonmarried persons; lower for married persons with children than for those without children; and lower for nonmarried persons who are household heads than for those who are not heads. Two approaches are considered: (1) social processes select healthy persons to the statuses of spouse, parent, and household head; (2) those statuses protect their occupants against risk of death. The protection hypothesis succeeds better than the selection hypothesis in accounting plausibly for the sex and age pattern of status differences in mortality.