Does who you live with matter for your health? The influence of partners' socioeconomic characteristics on self-rated health in Norway.

AIMS

Studies of the association between self-rated health and persons' income and education have almost invariably shown that people with higher education and incomes report better health. Less is known of the influence of household members' socioeconomic characteristics on individuals' health. This study thus aimed to assess the extent to which the socioeconomic characteristics of partners may contribute to explaining the variation in the respondents' self-rated health (SRH).

METHODS

Using an observational design, we analysed cross-sectional Norwegian survey data on SRH (2015 and 2019), linked to register data on education and income for respondents ( = 7082) and their opposite-sex coresident spouse or partner. We employed logistic regression models to assess the associations between respondents' SRH and the relative income and education of their partner. Average marginal effects were calculated to enable cross-model comparisons.

RESULTS

Net of individual characteristics, having a higher-educated partner was positively associated with SRH for both male (OR = 1.56) and female (OR = 1.36) respondents. Having a partner with an above median income (by age and sex) was positively associated with SRH for female (OR = 1.29) respondents only. For education, the positive SRH associations were roughly similar for respondents and partners. For income, the associations were more pronounced for respondents than partners.

CONCLUSIONS

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