Abstract
Understanding social inequalities in parental health is crucial for family functioning and child development. Theoretically, the double burden of parenting and minority stress may lead to the negative association between parenthood and health outcomes being stronger for people in same-sex relationships. Moreover, drawn from the social control process and the compensation mechanism, the negative association between parenthood and health risk behaviors may become stronger for people in same-sex relationships. Yet, empirical evidence on parental health disparities between parents in same- and different-sex relationships is limited. Using linear and logistic regression models, coarsened exact matching, and entropy balancing on Dutch data between 2008 and 2021 (196 people in same-sex relationships and 6948 people in different-sex relationships), we investigate the relationship between parenthood and three health outcomes (self-rated health, physical health, and mental health) and two health risk behaviors (smoking and heavy episodic drinking). We find that parents on average are less likely to experience heavy episodic drinking than non-parents. The association between parenthood and health does not differ between people in same-sex and different-sex relationships.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 101685 |
| Journal | SSM - Population Health |
| Volume | 26 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2024 The Authors
Funding
Deni Mazrekaj acknowledges funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe program under grant agreement 101129146 (EFFEct) .
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| European Union | 101129146 |
Keywords
- Alcohol
- Children
- LGBTQI+
- Mental health
- Minority stress
- Parents
- Physical health
- Same-sex relationships
- Smoking
