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Title: Characteristics of U.S. Physician Marriages, 2000-2015: An Analysis of Data From a U.S. Census Survey
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2018
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Abstract: Background: Female physicians are more likely than male physicians to make professional adjustments to accommodate household responsibilities, such as childrearing (1). Although differences in marriage characteristics between male and female physicians may partly explain this finding, national data on characteristics of physician marriages are lacking (2). For example, spouses of female physicians may on average work more hours outside the home than spouses of male physicians, which would place relatively greater pressure on female physicians to adjust their professional responsibilities for household work. Methods: We performed analyses using data from the American Community Survey (ACS) obtained between 2000 and 2015 (3). The ACS is an annual, nationally representative, U.S. Census–administered survey of approximately 3 million households. The survey is collected by mail, telephone, and personal-visit interviews. Response rates range from 90% to 98% (4). The Harvard Institutional Review Board waived study review. We compared self-reported occupation, personal income, hours worked outside the home, and graduate education status between spouses of male versus female physicians. Occupation was categorized as physician or surgeon, nurse, other health care professional (dentist, pharmacist, or health care executive), or other. We also compared the number of children in couples with a male physician only, female physician only, and 2 physicians. Differences in means for categorical and continuous variables were assessed with chi-square and t tests, respectively. Specialty was unavailable. Income was self-reported. We analyzed physicians aged 25 to 50 years to focus on ages when most childbearing and marriage decisions are made. Same-sex couples were excluded because of our focus on sex differences within couples; this excluded 71 couples, leaving 42 903 couples in our sample. Dollar values were normalized to 2015 dollars using the Consumer Price Index. We used ACS-provided weights to make our estimates nationally representative and the complex survey modules in Stata, version 14.2 (StataCorp), to account for the ACS's complex survey design. Results: Our sample comprised 30 898 male physicians and 17 625 female physicians. Among male physicians, 17.1% were married to female physicians, 8.0% to nurses, and 3.3% to other health care professionals (Table 1). In contrast, 31.4% of female physicians were married to male physicians, 0.6% to nurses, and 2.4% to other health care professionals. These patterns were stable over the study period.
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Authors: Ly, Dan, P; Seabury, Seth, A; Jena, Anupam, B
Periodical (Full): Annals of Internal Medicine
Issue: 5
Volume: 168
Pages: 375-376
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Family and Marriage, Labor Force and Occupational Structure
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