Spouses' Health at Midlife and Wife Breadwinning Dynamics Across the Life Course

描述(由申请人提供)：在这个项目中，我们使用管理收入数据的生命过程和纵向潜在阶层分析来研究婚姻收入动态(特别是妻子的较高收入)与中年(51-61岁)夫妇的心理和身体健康之间的关系。这是一个人口统计学上的关键问题，因为妻子越来越有可能成为主要的收入来源。例如，2007年22%的妻子比丈夫挣得多，而1970年只有4%。此外，妻子更高的收入破坏了男人是养家糊口的传统观念，因此与养家糊口的丈夫的身心健康状况较差有关。然而，大多数以前的研究只关注男性，并依赖于妻子较高收入贡献的短期快照(即一到三年)，尽管最近有证据表明，妻子较高的收入在一生中是不稳定的，波动很大。这些差距留下了许多悬而未决的问题，即妻子更高的收入与已婚男女的健康之间的关系。我们通过对健康和退休研究的一个队列(出生于1931年至1941年之间的夫妇)进行30年(1962-1991年)夫妇层面的社会保障管理局收入数据的纵向潜在分类和回归分析来解决这些悬而未决的问题。我们将这些夫妻层面的收入数据与1992年(样本年龄在51岁至61岁之间)夫妻的身心健康联系起来。具体地说，我们建议：1)确定可能与中年心理和身体健康有关的妻子高收入的生命过程动态(即，妻子高收入的持续时间、频率、进入/退出的阶段和生命过程阶段)；2)研究这些高收入动态如何与中年男性和女性的健康存在差异；以及3)探索这些有记录的健康关系是如何被包括人口统计、教育和低婚姻收入在内的协变量混淆的，和/或是由儿童健康衡量的健康选择造成的。这项研究将首次确定妻子养家糊口的不同模式在近一生的收入过程中。将这些潜在的妻子养家糊口的阶级模式与中年健康联系起来，可以阐明老年夫妇健康状况较差的研究不足的相关性，以及婚姻中性别健康差异的潜在原因，从而为研究社会经济地位在健康、婚姻收入和健康以及健康性别差异方面的梯度做出重要贡献。 公共卫生相关性：拟议的项目将推进关于社会经济地位健康梯度、婚姻收入和健康以及老年男女性别健康差异的学术研究。这项研究的结果可以被公共卫生和医疗从业者用来为家庭制定心理社会干预措施，以适应不断变化的婚姻经济。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In this project we examine the relationship between marital income dynamics (wives' higher earnings, in particular) and the mental and physical health of husbands and wives at midlife (51- 61 years old) using a life course of administrative earnings data and longitudinal latent class analyses. This is a demographically critical issue because wives are increasingly likely to be the primary earner. For example, 22% of wives earned more than their husbands in 2007, compared to only 4% in 1970. Further, wives' higher earnings destabilize traditional ideas of men as breadwinners and have consequently been linked with poorer physical and mental health for husbands of wife breadwinners. However, most prior research focuses only on men and relies on short-term snapshots of wives' higher earnings contributions (i.e., one to three year periods), despite recent evidence that wives' higher earnings are unstable and fluctuate widely over the life course. These gaps leave many unresolved questions about the relationship between wives' higher earnings and the health of married men and women. We address these unresolved questions by conducting longitudinal latent class and regression analyses of 30 years (1962-1991) of couple-level Social Security Administration earnings data from one cohort of the Health and Retirement Study (couples born between 1931 and 1941). We link these couple- level life course earnings data to husbands' and wives' physical and mental health in 1992 (when the sample is 51 to 61 years old). Specifically, we propose to: 1) identify life course dynamics of wives' higher earnings (i.e., length, frequency, transitions into/out of, and life course stage of wives' higher earnings) that may relate to mental and physical health at midlife; 2) examine how these dynamics of wives' higher earnings differentially relate to men's and women's health at midlife; and 3) explore how these documented health relationships are confounded by covariates including demographics, education, and low marital income and/or are caused by health selection as measured by childhood health. This research will be the first to identify distinct and varied patterns of wife breadwinning across a near life course of earnings. Linking these latent class patterns of wife breadwinning to midlife health can illuminate an under-studied correlate of poorer health among aging married couples and a potential cause of gendered health differences within marriage, thereby making important contributions to scholarship on the SES gradient in health, income and health in marriage, and gender differences in health. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed project will advance scholarship on the SES gradient in health, on marital income and health, and on gendered health differences for aging men and women. The findings from this research can be used by public health and medical practitioners to develop psychosocial interventions for families adjusting to the changing economics of marriage.