The formal demography of kinship V: Kin loss, bereavement, and causes of death

BACKGROUND: The loss of kin by death has medical, psychological, and social effects on other members of a kinship network. Recent formal demographic models can account for deaths of kin, but not causes of those deaths. OBJECTIVE: Our objective is to extend the matrix kinship model to analyze losses...

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Main Authors: Hal Caswell, Rachel Margolis, Ashton Verdery
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research 2023-12-01
Series:Demographic Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.demographic-research.org/articles/volume/49/41
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author Hal Caswell
Rachel Margolis
Ashton Verdery
author_facet Hal Caswell
Rachel Margolis
Ashton Verdery
author_sort Hal Caswell
collection DOAJ
description BACKGROUND: The loss of kin by death has medical, psychological, and social effects on other members of a kinship network. Recent formal demographic models can account for deaths of kin, but not causes of those deaths. OBJECTIVE: Our objective is to extend the matrix kinship model to analyze losses of any type of kin, at any age at death, due to any cause of death, at any age of a Focal individual. METHODS: Given age-specific schedules of risk due to each cause, the projection matrix is enlarged to include multiple absorbing states representing the age at death and the cause of death of kin at each age of Focal. The fertility matrix is enlarged to include births by living kin and to exclude births by dead kin. RESULTS: The model provides deaths experienced at each age, and accumulated up to each age, of Focal, by cause of death and age at death. Causes of death are competing risks, per-mitting the study of how the elimination of one cause displaces bereavement across kin types and age groups of the bereaved. As an example, we analyze kin death experiences attributable to each of the six leading causes of death in the US Non-Hispanic White female population. CONTRIBUTION: Studies of the death of kin and bereavement of survivors can now take into account di-verse causes of death, each with its own age schedule of risks. These results may help understand how different causes of death influence kinship structures and the experience of bereavement among surviving kin.
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spelling doaj-art-4329b5cef9d444eabcddf792a83c06d72025-08-20T02:57:04ZengMax Planck Institute for Demographic ResearchDemographic Research1435-98712023-12-0149411163120010.4054/DemRes.2023.49.416214The formal demography of kinship V: Kin loss, bereavement, and causes of deathHal Caswell0Rachel Margolis1Ashton Verdery2Universiteit van AmsterdamUniversity of Western OntarioPennsylvania State UniversityBACKGROUND: The loss of kin by death has medical, psychological, and social effects on other members of a kinship network. Recent formal demographic models can account for deaths of kin, but not causes of those deaths. OBJECTIVE: Our objective is to extend the matrix kinship model to analyze losses of any type of kin, at any age at death, due to any cause of death, at any age of a Focal individual. METHODS: Given age-specific schedules of risk due to each cause, the projection matrix is enlarged to include multiple absorbing states representing the age at death and the cause of death of kin at each age of Focal. The fertility matrix is enlarged to include births by living kin and to exclude births by dead kin. RESULTS: The model provides deaths experienced at each age, and accumulated up to each age, of Focal, by cause of death and age at death. Causes of death are competing risks, per-mitting the study of how the elimination of one cause displaces bereavement across kin types and age groups of the bereaved. As an example, we analyze kin death experiences attributable to each of the six leading causes of death in the US Non-Hispanic White female population. CONTRIBUTION: Studies of the death of kin and bereavement of survivors can now take into account di-verse causes of death, each with its own age schedule of risks. These results may help understand how different causes of death influence kinship structures and the experience of bereavement among surviving kin. https://www.demographic-research.org/articles/volume/49/41bereavementcauses of deathcompeting riskskin losskinshipmatrix models
spellingShingle Hal Caswell
Rachel Margolis
Ashton Verdery
The formal demography of kinship V: Kin loss, bereavement, and causes of death
Demographic Research
bereavement
causes of death
competing risks
kin loss
kinship
matrix models
title The formal demography of kinship V: Kin loss, bereavement, and causes of death
title_full The formal demography of kinship V: Kin loss, bereavement, and causes of death
title_fullStr The formal demography of kinship V: Kin loss, bereavement, and causes of death
title_full_unstemmed The formal demography of kinship V: Kin loss, bereavement, and causes of death
title_short The formal demography of kinship V: Kin loss, bereavement, and causes of death
title_sort formal demography of kinship v kin loss bereavement and causes of death
topic bereavement
causes of death
competing risks
kin loss
kinship
matrix models
url https://www.demographic-research.org/articles/volume/49/41
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