Is Breadwinning a Health Hazard? The Relationship between Relative Income and Self-Reported Mental and Physical Health

• In Event: 308 - Section on Sociology of Sex and Gender Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 11. Medical/Mental and Physical Health: Session I

Abstract

While scholars have carefully tracked the amount of time men and women spend on both paid and domestic labor, the consequences of defining and prescribing marital responsibilities based on gender—particularly among young men and women who reportedly desire egalitarian relationships—are less well-known. In this study, we use nationally representative survey data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 97 (NLSY97) to examine the relationship between men’s and women’s relative income contributions in marriage, a measure of household specialization, and physical and mental health. We find strong evidence that breadwinning has adverse effects on men’s health. As relative income increases—that is, as men take on a greater share of the household income—depression increases and physical health declines. Relative income is negatively associated with women’s depression and unrelated to women’s physical health.

Authors

• Christin L. Munsch, University of Connecticut

• Matthew Rogers, University of Connecticut