Shared lives, shared stress: Witnessing and spillover effects in spousal mental health interactions
Dain Jung,
Do Won Kwak (),
Kam Ki Tang and
Myra Yazbeck
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2025, vol. 233, issue C
Abstract:
The study examines the impact of significant events experienced by a partner on one’s mental health. It differentiates between the “witnessing effect” (direct observation of the partner’s events) and the “spillover effect” (mental health alterations mirrored from the partner). Contrary to past research, these effects are distinguished. We find that the strength of the witnessing effect varies by event type and gender, whereas the spillover effect is stable across events and genders. These findings highlight an oversight in previous research, which used exclusive partner events as instruments to estimate the spousal spillover effect without distinguishing it from the witnessing effect. The surprising finding of no gender bias in the spillover effect challenges the notion that women are more emotionally contagious. The findings suggest that the strong and gender-specific witnessing effect appears to outweigh the gender-neutral spillover effect in previous research.
Keywords: Mental health; Social contagion; Spillover effects; Relationship satisfaction; Gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C31 I10 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:233:y:2025:i:c:s016726812500071x
DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106951
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