The transmission of partner mental health to individual life satisfaction: Estimates from a longitudinal household survey
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
| Author | Paul McNamee,Silvia Mendolia,Oleg Yerokhin |
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/sjpe.12296 |
494
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wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/sjpeScott J Polit Econ. 2021;68:494–516.
© 2021 Scottish Ec onomic Society
1 | INTRODUCTION
Valuations of health conditions serve an important role of informing decision- makers of the relative value for
money of interve ntions and policies design ed to improve health and well- being. However, health conditions h ave
substantial spillover effects on the family of the individual who directly experiences the conditions, and these
effects s hould be taken into account when eva luating the impact of such con ditions. A challenge, however, is to
identify a sui table valuation metho d with which to incorporate t hese spillover effect s.
One of the most com mon health conditions that occ ur in populations worldwide is p oor mental health (Vigo
et al., 2016). There are va rious mechanisms through wh ich mental health is likely to have an im pact on partners'
well- being (Doran & Kinchin, 2017). First of all, individuals derive utility from the health of their partners. For
example, Jacobson (2000), who provides an interesting generalization of the Grossman model, in which family,
rather than an in dividual, is the produ cer of health. Second, ind ividuals with poor ment al health are more likely to
Accepted: 12 May 20 21
DOI: 10 .1111/sjpe.1 2296
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The transmission of partner mental health to
individual life satisfaction: Estimates from a
longitudinal household survey
Paul McNamee1| Silvia Mendolia2| Oleg Yerokhin2
1Health Econom ics Research Unit , Institute
of Applied Hea lth Sciences, Uni versity of
Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
2University of Wollongong, Wollongong,
NSW, Australia
Correspondence
Silvia Mendo lia, School of Busin ess,
University of Wollongong, Northfields
Avenue, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
Email: smendoli@uow.edu.au
Funding information
Universit y of Wollongong, Austr alia, Grant/
Award Number: 142040582
Abstract
This paper investigates the relationship between partner's
mental health and individual life satisfaction, using panel
data and calculating the monetary valuation of mental ill-
ness. Accounting for me asurement error and endogen eity of
income, partn ers' mental health has a signific ant association
with individual well- being. The additional income need ed to
compensate someone living with a partner with a mental
condition is substantial (ranges between USD 33,000 and
USD 50,000). Further, individuals do not show adaptation
to partners' men tal illness. The results have implic ations for
policy- makers wishing to value the effects of policies that
aim to impact on ment al health and levels of well- being.
KEYWORDS
mental health, monetary valuation, well- being
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MCNAMEE EtAl.
drop out of the labo ur market and this may impose a dditional financia l stress on the family (Sc hofield et al., 2011).
Third, individuals with poor mental health may need care and supervision, and this may lead to greater risk of
depression am ongst carers (Ask e t al., 2014; Joling et al., 2010; Mentza kis et al., 2011). Last, menta l ill- health can
cause additio nal problems within the f amily, such as increased famil y conflicts (Burke, 20 09).
This study inves tigates the impact of pa rtner's mental he alth on individual life s atisfaction, usin g a large longi-
tudinal datas et of Australian couple s, and calculates th e compensation need ed for individuals liv ing with a partner
in poor mental health. Under standing the impact of mental health on family members is important , as they are
likely to be the pri mary source of care for ind ividuals affected, a nd can be responsible fo r choosing among differ-
ent treatment op tions. Therefore, if ther e are substantial spillover e ffects on family me mbers, the care of peopl e
affected by th e condition can be compro mised, and the overall im pact on the family is likel y to be higher (in terms
of well- being; social networks; labour supply, etc.). The existing economics literature has largely neglected the
analysis of impor tant spillover effe cts from individu al mental health to the w ell- being of their par tners, and there-
fore, this stud y aims to fill this import ant gap.
To the best of our knowle dge, this is the first paper to es timate the impact of one per son's mental health on
their spouses o r partners, using longit udinal data and controlling fo r unobserved heterogeneit y, and providing a
monetary v aluation of these events . For an individual living w ith a partner in poor m ental health, we calc ulate the
amount of additio nal income that would be j ust sufficient suc h that their life satisf action would then b e equivalent
to a similar indivi dual living in similar circ umstances whose par tner did not have that cond ition (for a recent health
example, see Howley, 2017).
Our results sh ow that individuals living wit h a partner in poor mental h ealth experience a subst antial drop in
life satisfac tion, and results are st able in all of the different spe cifications of the model, co ntrolling for partners'
and family's ch aracteristics, life event s, and long- term health conditions. T here is, however, a risk that potential
confounders may af fect these result s, even when we use estimation w ith panel data and individ ual fixed effects,
since this only de als with bias associated with ti me- invariant confounders. He nce, while the results can b e taken
as further ev idence of a robust relationship be tween partners' menta l health and individual life sat isfaction, we
are not able to draw s trong causal inference s.
The impact of pa rtners' mental healt h is larger than the impact of ne gative life events (including b eing victim
of violence, property crime, or experiencing death or illness of a relative). The implied compensatory income is
substantial a nd ranges from around AUD 50, 000 (USD 33,00 0) to around AUD 76,000 (USD 50 ,000), depending
on how poor menta l health is defined. Fur ther, we find no evidence of adapt ation to poor mental healt h.
The rest of this pa per is organized as follows. S ection 2 describes th e existing literature on t he cost of mental
health. Sec tion 3 presents the dat a and the mental health an d well- being indicators. S ection 4 discusses the e sti-
mation methods, and Section 5 presents the main results. Section 6 concludes.
2 | LITERATURE RE VIEW
The effect s of poor mental healt h on individuals' lives a nd economic outcomes h ave been widely docume nted and
analysed in the e conomics literatu re. Poor mental healt h is a significant predic tor of negative economi c outcomes,
such as reduced education and labour market success (see, e.g., Fletcher, 2010; Johnston et al., 2014; Smith &
Smith, 2010, among m any others). Individua ls who are in poor menta l health may experien ce reduced producti vity
(Bubonya et al., 2017) a nd increased probability of b eing out of the education syste m or the labour market at a
young age (Cornagl ia et al., 2015).
Poor mental hea lth imposes a subst antial cost on societ y and on healthcar e systems around the wo rld. Mental,
neurologica l and substance use dis orders account for over 10% of the g lobal burden of disease , measured in years
lost and account for over 25% of years lived with a disability (World Health Organization, 2013). Recently, the
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