Author: Federico Zilio, Ross Hickey, James Ted McDonald, Eric C. Sun, Yuting Zhang
Year: 2025
Category:
Health Publications
When someone in a household experiences a serious illness or injury, daily life often changes for both partners. This study uses Australian survey data to examine how couples adjust their time use and spending after a health shock.
The research finds that people who experience a health shock work fewer hours for more than a year. Their spouses do not increase their time doing paid work but do spend more time on caregiving and household chores. Affected households spend more on medical items and utilities and less on alcohol and holidays. Even though household income declines only slightly, more people report financial stress.
These results show that health shocks affect not only the person who becomes ill, but also their partner and household finances.
