Unemployment, job insecurity, and partner mental health: Longitudinal dyadic evidence from Germany

Researchers have long argued that unemployment affects the mental health of both, individuals and their partners, but findings remain inconsistent. Evidence on job insecurity is even scarcer, despite its widespread occurrence. This study tracks shifts in mental health related to unemployment and job insecurity in couples, testing for gender and educational differences. We analyzed data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (v39.1, years 2002-2022) covering working-age economically active heterosexual cohabiting couples observed without gaps over a nine-year period (five biennial waves, N = 2244 dyads). Mental health was measured using the SF-12 scale. Our Longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (L-APIM) controlled for residual correlation between partner's health. Our results showed that own unemployment and inactivity correlated with worsening of mental health among men and women. Partner effects were also negative but substantially smaller than actor effects, significant only for women and only in some analytical samples. Inspection of educational differences showed significant partner effects only among lower-educated women; they were especially pronounced in couples where the man, but not the woman, had tertiary education. Our findings indicate no partner effects among men, while weak partner effects among women cannot be ruled out. The results also point to an intersection of gender and economic vulnerability as key drivers of observed patterns.