Marital Quality, Socioeconomic Status, and Physical Health

• Published in: Journal of marriage and family Vol. 75; no. 4; pp. 903 - 919
• Main Authors: Choi, Heejeong, Marks, Nadine F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-08-2013; Wiley Subscription Services; Wiley; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Analytics; Conflict; Depressive disorders; Education; Educational Attainment; Educational research; Family; Family Violence; Happiness; Health; Health Care Costs; Health Problems; Higher education; Household income; Low income; Low Income Groups; Marital Instability; marital quality; Marital satisfaction; Marriage; Of General Interest; Personal health; Physical health; Quality of life; Sexuality. Marriage. Family relations; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomic Status; Socioeconomics; Sociology; Sociology of the family. Age groups; United States Of America; Marital relation; Educational Attainment; Happiness; Statistical analysis; Socioeconomic status; Health; Conjugal dispute; Physical health; Quality of Life
• ISSN: 0022-2445; 1741-3737
• DOI: 10.1111/jomf.12044

Recent efforts to promote marriage among the socioeconomically disadvantaged are based on the assumption that marriage is equally beneficial for persons with varying levels of socioeconomic status. Using 3 waves of data from a sample of married adults (the National Survey of Families and Households; N = 1,849), the authors evaluated whether the health benefits of marital happiness and the health costs of marital conflict might vary by education and income levels. They found that increases in marital happiness were associated with increases in self-rated health for individuals with more education. In addition, increases in marital conflict were linked to greater increases in functional impairment for persons with lower income. Although the results were not consistent and effect sizes were modest, the evidence nonetheless tentatively suggests that higher levels of marital happiness may be less beneficial for health and that higher levels of marital conflict may be more detrimental to health among persons with lower socioeconomic status.