Abstract
This chapter explores whether Californians in same-sex legal marriages and partnerships reported lower levels of psychological distress than other adult Californians after the 2008 California Supreme Court Decision that legalized same-sex marriage. We pooled 10 years of California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) data and employ a T1-T2 design to approximate a time series design. Dependent variables include overall self-related health, psychological distress, and household income. Independent variables include sexual identity and same-sex spouse. Bi-variate analyses compared self-reported mental and physical health between the two periods. We found decreased reports of poorer health and increased reports of very good health among gay men and lesbian women with legal spouses. Psychological distress decreased for legally coupled gay men and lesbians while increased slightly among unpartnered lesbian women and gay men. Household income increased among coupled lesbian women and gay men and decreased among others. Our project demonstrated positive health influences for Californians with legal same-sex spouses. We recommend future research projects that explore whether and how same- and opposite-sex marriage benefits health, well-being, and prosperity, and for marital status survey questions that are inclusive of sexual and gender identities and elicit the sex/gender of a respondent’s spouse.
Highlights
The U.S federal government continues to increase the collection of sexualorientation data in its surveys [1–4], recognizes the need to develop a model for LGBT health that integrates behavioral, environmental, and socioeconomic factors, and intends to develop a framework, “to improve the health and well-being of people, ... enhancing prosperity in the community and for its residents and businesses” [5] Marriage is one social contract long associated with health, longevity, and prosperity for people in such relationships [6–10]
The aim of this article is to explore whether Californians in same-sex legal partnerships and marriages reported lower levels of psychological distress after the 2008 California Supreme Court Decision that legalized same-sex marriage
That percentage rose to 26.5% after the state Supreme Court decision
Summary
The U.S federal government continues to increase the collection of sexualorientation data in its surveys [1–4], recognizes the need to develop a model for LGBT health that integrates behavioral, environmental, and socioeconomic factors, and intends to develop a framework, “to improve the health and well-being of people, ... enhancing prosperity in the community and for its residents and businesses” [5] Marriage is one social contract long associated with health, longevity, and prosperity for people in such relationships [6–10]. During the period that preceded local, state, and national legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S [11], researchers analyzed secondary data and proposed that such legal recognition could ensure some of the health and financial benefits that opposite-sex married couples have long-enjoyed [9, 12, 13]. Research on effects of state-based same-sex marriage or legal-partnerships found more nuanced results [14–16], for example, increased health insurance coverage among California legally-partnered lesbians compared to heterosexual women with no change among gay men compared to heterosexual men [17]. Another study found higher odds among legally-partnered California gay men to cite continuous health insurance coverage and regular medical providers than married heterosexual men—yet self-reported poorer health and well-being than heterosexual counterparts [19]. Litigation regarding a statewide ballot initiative led to a suspension of issuing same-sex marriage licenses until 2013 when same-sex marriage licenses were issued once again
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