Relative Income, the Breadwinner Norm, and Mental Health in Couples

The share of couples where the wife out-earns the husband is increasing in manycountries. In this paper, I investigate how this income dynamic affects mental health.Using data on all Swedish couples who married in 2001, I show that mental health ispositively associated with own and spousal income. However, it is negatively linked tothe wife’s relative income. Crossing the threshold where the wife starts earning moreincreases the likelihood of a mental health diagnosis by 8-12 per cent. This effect does not appear driven by divorce or spouses being on different income trajectories