This
chapter in the book mainly just goes over studies that have been done to prove
that their are physical benefits in a marriage. It is important to note that
while their is a higher percentage of physically and mentally healthy people
who are more apt to marry, researchers did other experiments to show the
effects after marriage instead of just the percentage of healthy, married
people.
The Benefits
An extensive body of evidence
documents that married adults are clearly healthier than their non-married
counterparts. They have lower rates of morbidity and mortality, and their
health benefits persist even when factors such as race, income and health
status prior to marriage are taken into account.
At older ages, married people are significantly healthier and
experience fewer physical limitations in daily activities than their
non-married counterparts. Married people are generally happier, the studies
find, with great life satisfaction, lower risk for depression, and greater
economic stability, all contributing to better mental health. (Wood,
Goesling, & Avellar, 2007)
While some speculate that marriage
makes men happier than women, research suggests that both reap mental benefits
from the union. (Waite & Gallagher, 2000). A significant study
published in Psychological Medicine (Scott et al., 2009)
concludes that marriage reduces the risk of mental disorders for both men and
women; however, gender differences exist. For men, marriage lowers their risk
for depression and panic disorder. For women, it reduces their risk of
substance abuse. For both genders, marriage offers higher levels of social
integration as well as a source of emotional support from which spouses draw a
sense of being esteemed, valued, and cared about.
Further contributing to a sense of security for married couples
are well-documented economic benefits. Married couples, even those with lower
incomes, report greater financial security and, as a result, have greater
access to better housing, food, and services like health care that the
never-married, divorced, or widowed. (Stack and Eshleman, 1998)
"Is There Something Unique about
Marriage?" is another study about behavioral medicine. The authors
researched whether an above-average social network of family and friends could
compensate, in terms of psychological and cardiovascular health, for not being
married. Interestingly, "there does appear to be something unique about
the spousal relationship," conclude the authors, "as relationships
did not compensate for the lack of a satisfying marriage" (pg. 243) The
researchers found that the spousal relationship, with its intimacy, time
involvement, and especially commitment level, exerted a much stronger positive
influence on health that other relationships.
According to the National Healthy Marriage
Resource Center and its own rigorous synthesis of the research, "a
good-enough, or healthy marriage-one that is low in negativity-will provide
cumulative, lifelong protection against chronic illness and premature death for
both men and women, as well as greatly increasing the chances that their
children will grow up healthy. These benefits seem only to increase as couple
grow old together."
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