From extended family to enhanced burden: Health implications for daughters-in-law within patrilocal households

This study examines the health impacts on married women following a sudden disruption in familial living arrangements in the context of a society with defined gender norms. Using panel data from the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) conducted in 2004–05 and 2011–12, we draw on a sample of married women aged 15–49 residing in patrilocal households. We leverage the quasi-exogenous variation in the death of co-resident in-laws in a difference-in-differences framework and find that, the death of a parent-in-law leads to a deterioration in the daughter-in-law's anthropometric outcomes, i.e., a decline in body mass index and an increase in the incidence of underweight. We explain our results by providing suggestive evidence that the daughter-in-law faces increased household responsibilities, and wage employment combined with reduced leisure after an in-law's death, which may lead to the adverse health outcomes. These findings highlight the excessive burden on married women that arises from the uptake of multiple roles both within and outside the household, following the death of their in-laws.