Are Married People Happier and Healthier? Depends!

The once held belief that being married was as good for you as eating your vegetables is not necessarily true. While marriage may be worthwhile for many reasons, being single isn't necessarily a good excuse to rack up more sick days at work.

Health and Marriage:

No one is arguing that forging a healthy relationship doesn't have obvious benefits. Nothing can change your life like falling in love, and few things will make optimism soar like planning a new life together. Yes, the world looks rosy when moving in together, buying a home, or having a first baby. And even if things don't go quite as planned, the theory is that married couples have each other to lean on when something goes awry. Married couples may feel less stress financially with a dual income and, if children are involved, having two partners to share driving the kids to gymnastics or school makes scheduling easier. But, slipping that gold ring on your finger is not a magic bullet to staying healthy and happy!

We all know that marriage can lead to divorce, and research shows that a failing marriage can have detrimental effects on the couple's health during the breakup and ensuing legal turmoil.

How Life Choices Affect Happiness and Health:

Jennifer Warner writes about the importance of life choices in her article in WebMD, "Key to Happiness Lies in Choices You Make." In her article, Warner explains that life goals and choices impact life satisfaction as much as having a partner or being married.

Warner provides results of a 25-year German study of 60,000 participants, that indicates people who prioritize family goals over career and material items are happier and healthier. Likewise making personal choices that include church, exercise and social activities can have an impact on health. For instance, an obese woman may be less healthy and happy because of her weight than the fact that she doesn't have a husband. Also, a single work-a-holic who cuts back on his workload may see improvements in his health and happiness after striking better work-life balance. It would be unlikely for marriage alone to change the wellness factor for either of these two individuals.

Health and Being Single:

Caroline Wilbert further debunks the age-old belief that credits marriage for good health in her MSN article, "Married vs. Single: Health Gap Narrows" She references a study written up in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, that indicates a narrowing gap between married and single people. However not all singles' health and happiness is rated the same.

Never-Married Men are the Healthiest Singles - Staying the most eligible, confirmed bachelor may have its rewards, as never-married men seem to be in the single group with the best health. This is partially due to the fact that it is more socially acceptable for a man to be single than it once was. Likewise, similar to women, a single, never-married guy may have developed resources and a network of friends they can rely on. In a world filled with house cleaning companies, laundry services, frozen or deli gourmet dinners, and the social media, the absence of a woman does not render a guy helpless or lonely. Besides, a guy can't miss what he never had, right?

Widowed or Divorced Singles Experience Declining Health - However, for the singles who were once half of a couple, the situation may be less heartening. Wilbert explains that health of those individuals who were widowed, divorced, and separated proved worse eventually compared to their married friends. She writes, "Widows and widowers had the most dramatic declines. In 1972, the widowed were about as likely to report good health as the married, but in 2003, they were 7% less likely to report good health than their married counterparts were.

Being Single a Mixed Bag for Women - A single woman's health can be compromised due to both economic and social factors. If she can't afford the health insurance and health care she needs, her well-being may suffer. The Center for American Progress website states that one-fourth of the women in the 18 to 29 age-bracket are uninsured, and represent nearly half of all unmarried, uninsured women. Likewise, they tell us, insurance companies currently consider women a risk in general, and charge a premium on an individual policy sometimes higher by 50%!

On the social side of things, in the past, a single woman was considered a second-rate citizen. In a Rutgers paper, in which data presented by historians and social scientists was studied, it was shown that an unmarried woman had been depicted as a depraved seductress, penniless and powerless spinster, or an object of ridicule as an old maid. Even current movies sometimes paint a picture of single women as desperate loonies who would do anything for a man's affections! Even though these depictions might have been spawned by age-old nonsense or men who felt threatened, that still may be responsible for a single woman's unconscious negative perception of herself.

The Rutgers papers indicates, however, that in spite of the past, a healthier, more capable and connected, independent woman has continued to emerge and today is considered socially acceptable, even in our marriage dominant society. Some studies show she is often happier than her married counterpart!

The debate over health and marriage will continue to be studied, no doubt. But it is becoming clear that there is more to being healthy today than whether you have a little gold band on your hand! Whether you are married or single, the lifestyle choices you make and the attitude you take about your marital status, may affect your health the most!

Related Reading:

Famous Cheaters Who Traded Down

References:

Center for American Progress

Rutgers.edu: Single Women: Happier than You Think

WebMD: Key to Happiness Lies in Choices You Make

Marriage vs. Single: Health Gap Narrows