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Spousal Health Effects: The Role of Selection

In: Discoveries in the Economics of Aging

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  • James Banks
  • Elaine Kelly
  • James P. Smith

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the issue of partner selection in the health of individuals who are at least fifty years old in England and the United States. We find a strong and positive association in family background variables including education of partners and their parents. Adult health behaviors such as smoking, drinking, and exercise are more positively associated in England compared to the United States. Childhood health indicators are also positively associated across partners. We also investigated pre and post partnership smoking behavior of couples. There exists strong positive assortative mating in smoking in that smokers are much more likely to partner with smokers and non-smokers with non-smokers. This relationship is far stronger in England compared to the United States. In the United States, we find evidence of asymmetric partner influence in smoking in that men's pre marriage smoking behavior influences his female partner's post marriage smoking behavior but there does not appear to be a parallel influence of women's pre-marriage smoking on their male partner's post-marital smoking. These relationships are much more parallel across genders in England.
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Suggested Citation

  • James Banks & Elaine Kelly & James P. Smith, 2014. "Spousal Health Effects: The Role of Selection," NBER Chapters, in: Discoveries in the Economics of Aging, pages 255-279, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:12968
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. James P. Smith, 2009. "The Impact of Childhood Health on Adult Labor Market Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(3), pages 478-489, August.
    2. James Smith, 2009. "Reconstructing childhood health histories," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(2), pages 387-403, May.
    3. James Banks & Richard Blundell & Zoe Oldfield & James P. Smith, 2010. "Housing Mobility and Downsizing at Older Ages in Britain and the United States," Working Papers WR-787, RAND Corporation.
    4. Oreffice, Sonia & Quintana-Domeque, Climent, 2010. "Anthropometry and socioeconomics among couples: Evidence in the United States," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 373-384, December.
    5. Wilson, Sven E., 2002. "The health capital of families: an investigation of the inter-spousal correlation in health status," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(7), pages 1157-1172, October.
    6. James Banks & Richard Blundell & Zöe Oldfield & James P. Smith, 2012. "Housing Mobility and Downsizing at Older Ages in Britain and the USA," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 79(313), pages 1-26, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Guner, Nezih & Kulikova, Yuliya & Llull, Joan, 2018. "Marriage and health: Selection, protection, and assortative mating," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 138-166.
    2. Banks, James & Brugiavini, Agar & Pasini, Giacomo, 2020. "The powerful combination of cross-country comparisons and life-history data," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    3. Davillas, Apostolos & Pudney, Stephen, 2016. "Concordance of health states in couples. Analysis of self-reported, nurse administered and blood-based biomarker data in Understanding Society," ISER Working Paper Series 2016-15, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. Jordi Gumà-Lao, 2022. "The Influence of Economic Factors on the Relationship between Partnership Status and Health: A Gender Approach to the Spanish Case," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-12, March.
    5. Guner, Nezih & Kulikova, Yuliya & Llull, Joan, 2018. "Reprint of: Marriage and health: Selection, protection, and assortative mating," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 162-190.
    6. 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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    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General

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