OK, remember the story about the plummeting life expectancy among middle-aged white people? Turns out, life expectancy is not plummeting for all middle-aged white people. It is plummeting specifically for women. And not all women, either, but women in the US South and, to a lesser extent, in the Midwest.
2 responses to “Who Is Really Affected by Life Expectancy Decrease?”
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Was it this study they broke down?
What is it about being a middle aged white woman in the South or Midwest born between 1959-1968 that’s decreasing their life expectancy?
I’m reminded of your metaphor about psychological burdens being more exhausting the longer you carry them, even though that may have nothing to do with it.
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As Twain said, lies, damned lies and statistics.
Without having their data to examine, I’m not sure how the stats guys screwed this us, but I’m pretty sure they did. Life expectancy for women in the US is increasing. The proportion of the senior population that is female is increasing. More women who are older are dying, because there are more women alive in the older age group then men. The analysis ignores income which has been shown to be related to life expectancy in the US. And so forth.
What is true is the incidence of smoking in the south is much higher than in the rest of the country, and lung cancer has surpassed breast cancer as a leading cause of death for females.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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