Unemployment and relationship happiness in the United Kingdom

Blom, Niels and Perelli-Harris, Brienna (2020) Unemployment and relationship happiness in the United Kingdom (The ESRC Centre for Population Change Working Paper Series, 93) ESRC Centre for Population Change 38pp.

Abstract

Here we investigate the association between unemployment and relationship quality between partners in the United Kingdom. We investigate multiple dimensions of unemployment – current unemployment, changes in unemployment, duration of unemployment, and past unemployment – each of which provides unique insights into how economic uncertainty can strain relationships. This work improves our understanding of the long-term effect of unemployment and indicates how relationships become most vulnerable to dissolution. Using British longitudinal data (UKHLS), we employ random and fixed regression analyses. The results highlight the gendered nature of relationships and employment within British couples. As found in previous studies, unemployment is related to lower quality partner relationships, particularly men’s unemployment. We find that problems within the relationship accumulate over the course of men’s unemployment. In addition, men’s re-employment does not solve problems rising from unemployment, especially for women, who continue to be less happy with the relationship when their male partner was unemployed in the recent past. Our results further indicate that the association between unemployment and relationship quality does not differ by parental status. Overall, the research showed that unemployment is not only related to relationship quality at the time of unemployment, but has a scarring effect on partner relationship quality.

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Contributors

Author: Niels Blom

Author: Brienna Perelli-Harris

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