Partner's depression and quality of life among older Europeans

• Published in: The European journal of health economics Vol. 20; no. 7; pp. 1093 - 1101
• Main Authors: Pascual-Sáez, Marta, Cantarero-Prieto, David, Blázquez-Fernández, Carla
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer 01-09-2019; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Couples; Depression - physiopathology; Economic Policy; Europe; Female; Health Care Management; Health Economics; Health policy; Households; Humans; Logistic Models; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental depression; Mental health; Middle Aged; Older people; Original Paper; Personal health; Pharmacoeconomics and Health Outcomes; Public Finance; Public Health; Public policy; Quality of Life; Spouses - psychology; Well being; Europe; Oldest people; I31; I10; Partner’s health; I12; SHARE; Quality of life; Logistic regressions
• ISSN: 1618-7598; 1618-7601
• DOI: 10.1007/s10198-019-01081-y

We aim to study among European older adults (after age 50) if partner's mental health influences the individual's well-being. A sample of married or with registered partnership couples that live together, from the latest wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is considered. More specifically, we use logistic regressions to determine the impact that partner's mental health has on an individual well-being. Besides, personal health and socio-demographic characteristics are also analysed. Differences by gender have been also considered. We shed new light on the factors determining well-being. The empirical findings show that there are important spillover effects from individual's mental health to the well-being of their partners within households (OR= 1.51; 95% C.I 1.43, 1.59). Our results show utility and empathy between couples, regardless of being a man or a woman. Further, once controlled by the individual traditional factors (age, education or labour status), the interdependence of the closest environment is shown. These findings play a very important role in explaining the public policies that consider the social perspective of well-being in general, as well as mental health policies in particular.