Final answer:
The appropriate statistical test to determine the relationship between marital status and hospitalization is the Chi-square test, which assesses independence between two categorical variables.
Step-by-step explanation:
The appropriate statistical test for determining whether the independent variable of marital status (single/married/separated or divorced) is related to the dependent variable of hospitalization in the preceding 12 months is a Chi-square test. This test is used to assess whether two categorical variables are independent of each other. The test involves creating a contingency table of observed values and comparing it to expected values to determine if there is a significant relationship between the two variables. You would start by stating the null hypothesis that the two variables are independent and the alternative hypothesis that they are dependent, and then calculate the chi-square statistic to test these hypotheses.