Spousal Health Effects - the Role of Selection

James Banks, Elaine Kelly () and James P. Smith

No 19438, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: 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.

JEL-codes: I0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-09
Note: AG
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published as Spousal Health Effects: The Role of Selection , James Banks, Elaine Kelly, James P. Smith. in Discoveries in the Economics of Aging , Wise. 2014

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Chapter: Spousal Health Effects: The Role of Selection (2014)
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