ABSTRACT
The effect of social status and social stress on physical and emotional health has been an enduring theme in post-World War II American and western European social science. This chapter extends this theme by examining the effects of one important source of stress, marital discord, on the physical health of a panel of Czech couples. The general hypothesis is that chronic marital stress will manifest itself in a range of health problems either directly or indirectly through psychological distress. Because there is panel data, couples with symptoms of chronic marital stress, and those with changing levels of stress, can be distinguished from those with consistently low marital stress. Different patterns of marital stress, in turn, are used to predict level and change in both the psychological distress and physical health of Czech wives and husbands.
