Health status and type of couple: a first glance across European countries

The increase of mixed unions and, consequently, of mixed families, has recently triggered the attention of researchers. However, only some studies focused on differences in the health status of individuals according to the type of partnership and were mostly centered on interracial couples. This article explores whether and how the self-declared health status of native and foreign-born individuals changes according to the origin of their partner (native or foreign-born), using EVS2017 data and applying binary regression models. Results show that among men, native respondents in a mixed couple are more likely to have a poor or very poor health status than their counterparts in a native couple. Foreign-born men partnered with foreign-born women are those showing the highest likelihood of reporting a poor or very poor health status, while the contrary holds for their women counterparts.