Mental Health Effects of Same-Sex Marriage Legalization

Jan C. van Ours and Shuai Chen

No 15632, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Sexual minorities have had worse than average mental health, which may have to do with actual or perceived discrimination. Same-sex marriage legalization (SSML) is a typical anti-discrimination policy removing marital restrictions for sexual minorities. We study how this legislation affected mental health of sexual minorities in the Netherlands. Conducting a difference-in-differences analysis, we compare changes in mental health following the legalization between sexual minorities and heterosexuals. We fi nd that SSML improved mental health of both married and non-married sexual minorities, which implies that marriage is not the only channel. Examinations of alternative mechanisms combined with literature suggest that the legislation may also take effect by improving societal tolerance as well as stabilizing partnerships and enriching the choice basket of partnership forms for sexual minorities.

Keywords: Same-sex marriage; Mental health; Sexual minorities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 J12 J15 K36 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-law
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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