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The Importance of Spousal Education for the Self-Rated Health of Married Adults in the United States

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  • Dustin Brown
  • Robert Hummer
  • Mark Hayward

Abstract

Education’s benefits for individuals’ health are well documented, but it is unclear whether health benefits also accrue from the education of others in important social relationships. We assess the extent to which individuals’ own education combines with their spouse’s education to influence self-rated health among married persons aged 25 and older in the United States (N = 337,846) with pooled data from the 1997–2010 National Health Interview Survey. Results from age- and gender-specific models revealed that own education and spouse’s education each share an inverse association with fair/poor self-rated health among married men and women. Controlling for spousal education substantially attenuated the association between individuals’ own education and fair/poor self-rated health and the reduction in this association was greater for married women than married men. The results also suggest that husbands’ education is more important for wives’ self-rated health than vice versa. Spousal education particularly was important for married women aged 45–64. Overall, the results imply that individuals’ own education and spousal education combine to influence self-rated health within marriage. The results highlight the importance of shared resources in marriage for producing health. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Dustin Brown & Robert Hummer & Mark Hayward, 2014. "The Importance of Spousal Education for the Self-Rated Health of Married Adults in the United States," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(1), pages 127-151, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:33:y:2014:i:1:p:127-151
    DOI: 10.1007/s11113-013-9305-6
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    3. Montez, Jennifer Karas & Zhang, Wencheng & Zajacova, Anna & Hamilton, Tod G., 2018. "Does college major matter for women's and men's health in midlife? Examining the horizontal dimensions of educational attainment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 130-138.
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    5. Lamu, Admassu N. & Chen, Gang & Olsen, Jan Abel, 2023. "Amplified disparities: The association between spousal education and own health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    6. Chi-Tsun Chiu, 2019. "Living arrangements and disability-free life expectancy in the United States," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-16, February.
    7. Ma, Mingming, 2019. "Does children's education matter for parents’ health and cognition? Evidence from China," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 222-240.
    8. Jordi Gumà & Jeroen Spijker, 2020. "Until Death Do Us Part. The Influence of Own and Partner’s Socioeconomic Status on the Health of Spanish Middle-Aged Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-11, June.
    9. Connor M. Sheehan, 2019. "Education and Health Conditions Among the Currently Incarcerated and the Non-incarcerated Populations," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 38(1), pages 73-93, February.
    10. Veli Safak, 2020. "Matching Multidimensional Types: Theory and Application," Papers 2006.14243, arXiv.org.
    11. Guo, Rufei & Lin, Lin & Yi, Junjian & Zhang, Junsen, 2020. "The cross-spousal effect of education on health," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    12. Liu, Hui & Chopik, William J. & Shrout, M. Rosie & Wang, Juwen, 2024. "A national longitudinal dyadic analysis of spousal education and cognitive decline in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 343(C).
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