Spousal Education and Cardiovascular Health in the United States

Dustin C. Brown, University of Texas at Austin

Prior research consistently finds an inverse association between a person’s own education and multiple health outcomes. However, most research on education and health approaches the problem at the individual level, failing to take into account the potentially independent influence exerted by the educational attainment of one’s spouse. Research from other nations generally links spousal education to various health outcomes, but the results from a handful of studies in the United States are more ambiguous. Therefore, the purpose of the proposed paper is to examine the association between spousal education and cardiovascular health in the United States. Using twelve years (1997-2008) of cross sectional data from the National Health Interview Survey, I will estimate a series of nested regression models to examine the link between spousal education the association between spousal education and cardiovascular health. The results potentially have important implications for the study of family, socioeconomic status, and health.