Legalizing same-sex marriage matters for the subjective well-being of individuals in same-sex unions

We investigate whether the subjective well-being of individuals in same-sex unions improved following the legalization of same-sex marriage in England and Wales in March 2014. We employ repeated cross-sectional data from the 2011-2016 Annual Population Surveys on 476,411 persons, including 4,112 ind...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Boertien, Diederik|||0000-0002-4105-8001, Vignoli, Daniele
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:220383
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/220383
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1007/s13524-019-00822-1
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Subjective well-being
Same-sex couples
Marriage
Structural stigma
Descripción
Sumario:We investigate whether the subjective well-being of individuals in same-sex unions improved following the legalization of same-sex marriage in England and Wales in March 2014. We employ repeated cross-sectional data from the 2011-2016 Annual Population Surveys on 476,411 persons, including 4,112 individuals in coresidential same-sex relationships. The analysis reveals increases in subjective well-being for individuals in same-sex relationships following legalization. Additional analysis documents higher subjective well-being for individuals in married same-sex couples compared with individuals who are in a civil partnership or an informal cohabiting same-sex union. However, the subjective well-being of individuals from same-sex couples increased after legalization among all subgroups considered, including those who cohabited informally. This result hints at a general reduction in structural stigma as an important mechanism behind the improved well-being of individuals in same-sex unions.