Spousal Health Effects - the Role of Selection / James Banks, Elaine Kelly, James P. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Banks, James.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Kelly, Elaine.

Smith, James P.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w19438.

NBER working paper series no. w19438

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2013.

Summary:

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.

Notes:

Print version record

September 2013.