Marital Quality, Socioeconomic Status, and Physical Health

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.Key Words: health, marital quality, marriage, socioeconomic statusA growing concern over the state of marriage as a foundational social institution in contemporary society is evident in both the scholarly literature and public policy discussions (Amato, Booth, Johnson, & Rogers, 2007). High-quality, stable marriages appear to have become increasingly accessible only to individuals of higher educational attainment and income (Sweeney, 2002). The recent report The State of Our Unions: When Marriage Disappears (Wilcox & Marquardt, 2010) reveals that the percentages of people in intact first marriages and in very happy marriages are proportional to levels of education. Individuals with less education and lower income are less likely to enter into marriage; more likely to report marital problems; and, if married, more likely to dissolve their unions (Bramlett & Mosher, 2002).Alarmed by this marital inequality, public and private sectors have begun efforts to promote marriage among individuals with lower socioeconomic status (SES; Huston & Melz, 2004; Johnson, 2012). A key rationale for this movement has been well-publicized research findings that married individuals live healthier and longer lives compared to unmarried individuals (e.g., Waite & Gallagher, 2000). To fully advance the case for marriage, however, it would be optimal if one could demonstrate that, among married individuals, the health benefits of marriage are distributed at least equally across the entire socioeconomic continuum (Huston & Melz). If the rewards of a good-quality marriage are greater for individuals who are more educated and better off financially or ifthe disadvantages of a bad-quality marriage are greater for persons with limited education and income, then we may need to temper our enthusiasm for the public health remediation of health inequalities that may be available from marriage among persons with lower SES.Surprisingly little research has examined how marital quality may interface with socioeconomic position to influence physical health. Marital quality is a spouse's subjective evaluation of the relationship or the partner (Fincham & Finfield, 1997). Assessments of negative and positive dimensions of marital quality are moderately correlated but are not the opposite ends of a continuum (Fincham & Finfield). Assessments of negative dimensions of marital quality (e.g., marital conflict, marital strains) have consistently been associated with deleterious health outcomes (e.g., see Carr & Springer, 2010; Fincham & Beach, 2010; Kiecolt-Glaser & Newton, 2001; and Robles & Kiecolt-Glaser, 2003, for reviews). In comparison, assessments of positive dimensions of marital quality (e.g., marital happiness, marital support) have been found to have only modest effects on health. Regardless of which dimension of marital quality is examined, the variability in its impact on health across various socioeconomic groups has received little attention. …