Marital Status and Health: New Evidence Using Data on Twins

Mark E. Hill, Pennsylvania State University
Valarie King, Pennsylvania State University

One of the most heated debates in demography is whether marriage is protective of health. Numerous studies have shown that currently married individuals enjoy improved health status compared to unmarried peers. However, this research has suffered from the criticism that marriage selects against frail individuals, yielding an association between marital status and health that stems purely from the confounding effect of health selection. Using data from the Minnesota Twin Registry, we explore the association between marital status and self-reported health for matched monozygotic twins. Unlike previous research, our design controls not only for current conditions but also genetic endowment and shared early-life environment. Results show that currently married twins report higher levels of health when compared with their never-married or formerly married twin. We then elaborate upon this linkage by exploring evidence that marriage improves health-related behaviors, such as discouraging smoking and alcohol abuse, and encouraging physical fitness.