Mental Health Effects of Marriage Policy: Evidence from Linked Administrative Data in New Zealand

PROJECT SUMMARY Eliminating health disparities for vulnerable populations is an important goal. Legal recognition of who is eligible for marriage has expanded throughout the world and may contribute to mental health. We will provide new evidence on the effects of legal access to marriage on the mental health of vulnerable populations using comprehensive, high-quality linked administrative data for individuals in New Zealand – which expanded marriage access in 2013 – and rigorous difference-in-differences and event study methods. New Zealand (NZ) offers an unparalleled opportunity for understanding the effects of legal marriage availability on the mental health of vulnerable people due to its availability of multiple linked administrative datasets. Publicly funded healthcare provides information on all healthcare utilization for everyone in NZ, including prescription medications, mental health referrals and treatment, and hospitalizations. We will use administrative data from New Zealand on the universe of marriages to examine the effects on outcomes, including marriage, anxiety, depression, self-harm, substance abuse, and drug overdose, using difference-in-differences and event-study models. These analyses will rely on rich administrative data on pharmaceutical prescriptions, mental health and substance use treatment referrals, and hospital discharge data. We will also examine whether these effects are heterogeneous across groups.