When they marry, husbands and wives have well-developed health histories and well-established congenital and developmental propensities toward good and ill health. Substantial research suggests that, given the existing health propensity and health condition of an individual at a particular time, his or her probability of better or worse future health is affected by a variety of socially mediated factors that are subject to influence or manipulation by his or her spouse.

Spouses can promote each other’s health by ameliorating psychological stress. A substantial literature develops strong evidence that psychological stress causes illness, increase mortality risk, and serves as an important mechanism that links socioeconomic characteristics to health and mortality. Stress-reducing mechanisms include removal of sources of stress, and management of stress by talking about it to a trusted other person, psychological treatment, physical exercise,recreation and other means. A spouse can provide or encourage all of these stress-reducing behaviors.

Spouses also can promote each other’s health by providing each other with supportive social contact, and they can facilitate or inhibit each other’s social contact with supportive others. Evidence suggests that health is greatly advanced by supportive social contacts, including positive interaction with relatives, friends, coworkers and acquaintances. Recent experimental data shows that persons with more diverse social networks are more resistant to experimentally introduced upper respiratory viruses than persons with less diverse social networks.

Spouses can also promote each other’s health by providing each other with money income, and they can help each other manage money income effectively. Money does not buy health directly, but it can be used to purchase goods and services that make good health more likely. These goods and services include nutritious food, a hygienic and safe environment, medical care, and amenities that reduce psychological stress. Unless estranged or unusually wealthy, husbands and wives almost always share their financial resources and purchase and consume many of these health-promoting goods and services jointly. In short, there are many ways in which spouses can influence each other’s probability of good health.