How Marriage Improves Adult Health

How Marriage Improves Adult Health





Is marriage an old-fashioned, outmoded institution? The 1998 South Carolina
Marital Health Index found that 87% of South Carolina adults do not believe
it is. Interestingly, more divorced respondents (80%) than currently married
respondents (72%) are likely to disagree with this statement.1

This is a very good indicator, because marriage is a highly important and
relevant institution. This is especially true in the area of adult health and
well being. Men and women who are in their first marriage, on average, enjoy
significantly higher levels of physical and mental health than those who are
either single, divorced or living together. The research on this is very
strong.

Research conducted that the University of Massachusetts concludes, "one of
the most consistent observations in health research is that the married enjoy
better health than those of other [relational] statuses."2

Dr. Robert Coombs at UCLA reviewed more than 130 empirical studies published
in this century on how marriage impacts well being. He found, "an intimate
link between marital status and personal well-being."3

Alcoholism
Coombs, in his review, found that 70 percent of chronic problem drinkers were
either divorced or separated and only 15 percent were married. Single men are
more than three times as likely to die of cirrhosis of the liver.4

Long and Healthy Life
Unmarried people spend twice as much time as patients in hospitals as their
married peers and have lower activity levels.5

Research done at Erasmus University in Rotterdam reports, "married people
have the lowest morbidity [illness] rates, while the divorced show the
highest."6

Professor Linda Waite, from the University of Chicago, finds that the
"relationship between marriage and death rates has now reached the status of
a truism, having been observed across numerous societies and among various
social and demographic groups."

In Waites, 1995 Presidential address to the Population Association of
America, she explained the health benefits of marriage are so strong that a
married man with heart disease can be expected to live, on average, 1400 days
(nearly four years!) longer than an unmarried man with a healthy heart. This
longer life expectancy is even longer for a married man who has cancer or is
20 pounds over weight compared to his healthy, but unmarried, counterpart.
The advantages for women are similar.7

Additional research from Yale University indicates that a married man who
smokes more than a pack a day can be expected to live as long as a divorced
man who does not smoke. This researcher explains with a touch of humor, "If a
man,s marriage is driving him to heavy smoking, he has a delicate statistical
decision to make."8

Dr. Coombs, research agrees with these findings, "virtually every study of
mortality and marital status show the unmarried of both sexes have higher
death rates, whether by accident, disease, or self-inflicted wounds, and this
is found in every country that maintains accurate health statistics."9

Research published in JAMA finds that cures for cancer are significantly more
successful (8 to 17%) when a patient is married and being married was
comparable with being in an age category 10 years younger.10

Mental Health
Research dating back to 1936 shows that first-time psychiatric admission
rates for males suffering from schizophrenia were 5.4 times greater for
nonmarried men than married men. Dr. Benjamin Malzberg, the author of this
study, concludes, "The evidence seems clear that the married population had,
in general, much lower rates of mental disease than any of the other marital
groups."11

More recent research conducted jointly at Yale University and UCLA reports,

One of the most consistent findings in psychiatric epidemiology is that
married persons enjoy better health than the unmarried. Researchers have
consistently found the highest rates of mental disorder among the divorced
and separated, the lowest rates among the married and intermediate rates
among the single and widowed.12

They also found that a cohabiting partner could not replicate these benefits
of marriage.

Miscellaneous
Additional research shows that marriage:

· Improves sexual fulfillment13

· Protects against feelings of loneliness14

· Contributes to elevated feelings of overall happiness15

· Protects women from domestic and general violence16

· Enhances a parent,s ability to parent17

· Increases individual earnings and savings18

Research conducted at the University of Colorado indicates why marriage is so
beneficial to adults,

Generally, compared with those who are not married, married individuals eat
better, take better care of themselves, and live a more stable, secure and
scheduled lifestyle.19

source http://www.divorcereform.org/mel/abetterhealth.html