Skip to main content
Log in

The Role of Relative Income in Determining Marital Satisfaction for Husband and Wife in China

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Family and Economic Issues Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The role of relative income has been greatly discussed in the studies of subjective well-being. However, it is rarely studied with couple’s relationship satisfaction. This study uses two waves of data from the China Family Panel Survey (N = 9,291 in the 2014 wave, and N = 6,844 in the 2018 wave) to examine the association between relative income status and couple’s marriage satisfaction. The multivariable logistic analyses were applied to test the hypotheses. Generally, we find that the relative income status compared with people out-household has an important role in explaining marital satisfaction for husband and wife. Such associations are both significant from family and individual perspectives, but heterogenous from a gender perspective.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability Statement

The raw data required to reproduce the findings of this study are available to download from http://www.isss.pku.edu.cn/cfps/download after registration. The processed data required to reproduce the findings of this study are available upon request.

Notes

  1. The CFPS data can be obtained from Peking University Open Research Data webpage through registration. https://opendata.pku.edu.cn/.

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yunchao Cai.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of Interest Statement

All authors of this study declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cai, Y., Li, Q. The Role of Relative Income in Determining Marital Satisfaction for Husband and Wife in China. J Fam Econ Iss 45, 45–55 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-023-09904-0

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-023-09904-0

Keywords

Navigation