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Relative Income, the Breadwinner Norm, and Mental Health in Couples

Getik, Demid LU (2022) In Working Papers
Abstract
The share of couples where the wife out-earns the husband is increasing in manycountries. In this paper, I investigate how this income dynamic affects mental health.Using data on all Swedish couples who married in 2001, I show that mental health ispositively associated with own and spousal income. However, it is negatively linked tothe wife’s relative income. Crossing the threshold where the wife starts earning moreincreases the likelihood of a mental health diagnosis by 8-12 per cent. This effect does not appear driven by divorce or spouses being on different income trajectories.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
gender, mental health, income, relative income, I12, I21, I31, J16, J24
in
Working Papers
issue
2022:10
pages
44 pages
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4cf20b48-5e9b-487d-b63e-1e523707350f
date added to LUP
2022-06-30 11:50:32
date last changed
2024-03-11 14:01:21
@misc{4cf20b48-5e9b-487d-b63e-1e523707350f,
  abstract     = {{The share of couples where the wife out-earns the husband is increasing in manycountries. In this paper, I investigate how this income dynamic affects mental health.Using data on all Swedish couples who married in 2001, I show that mental health ispositively associated with own and spousal income. However, it is negatively linked tothe wife’s relative income. Crossing the threshold where the wife starts earning moreincreases the likelihood of a mental health diagnosis by 8-12 per cent. This effect does not appear driven by divorce or spouses being on different income trajectories.}},
  author       = {{Getik, Demid}},
  keywords     = {{gender; mental health; income; relative income; I12; I21; I31; J16; J24}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2022:10}},
  series       = {{Working Papers}},
  title        = {{Relative Income, the Breadwinner Norm, and Mental Health in Couples}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/173630749/WP22_10.pdf}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}