Union Status and Self-Rated Health: Testing Education as a Moderator Using the National Health Interview Survey (1997-2011)

Russell Spiker, University of Cincinnati
Corinne Reczek, Ohio State University

Few population studies examine the association of socioeconomic status (SES) with the health of individuals in same-sex relationships. This paper tests education as a moderator in the relationship between union status (same-sex married, same-sex cohabiting, different-sex married, different-sex cohabiting) and self-rated health using the National Health Interview Survey Sample Adult core files, pooled from 1997-2011. We hypothesize that after controlling for education and other sociodemographic covariates, same-sex married, same-sex cohabiting, and different-sex cohabiting individuals will not differ from one another in odds of reporting poor health but will report worse health than the different-sex married. Further, we hypothesize that education will moderate the association between union status and self-rated health such that the effect of low education will be amplified for same-sex couples. Results indicate that education is an important factor in the relationship between union status and self-rated health but does not modify the association.