Adult Mortality--Chapter 10

research on adult mortality is significant for understanding the health consequences of social inequality, human behavior, biological factors, and various other forces in human populations. In turn, mortality patterns can have profound influences on the size and composition of these populations. Thus, understanding adult mortality patterns is crucial to comprehending the dynamics of human society. We begin by outlining the general substantive concerns that guide demographers who conduct research on adult mortality, especially by addressing the breadth of factors with which demographers are concerned by placing these factors in a general framework. Following this introduction, we discuss the data and methods that are commonly used to conduct research in this area. We then summarize findings of specific influences on adult mortality, revealing variations across a number of demographic, social, and behavioral factors. Most of the methodological and substantive issues could be applied to any geographic area, but we use data from the United States to illustrate most of our points. The chapter concludes with some ideas for ongoing research in this area. I. SUBSTANTIVE CONCERNS The study of mortality is a core area of demography. Indeed, some have argued that i