Marriage may no longer be the healthier option

According to researchers at Michigan State University, marriage may no longer offer the health benefits it did in the past and being married does not improve a person's health as much as it used to.

The researchers say although the meanings and rates of being married, divorced, separated, never-married and widowed may have changed significantly over the past three decades, very little is known regarding historical trends in the relationship between marital status and health.

They say married people have historically reported better health than their never-married peers and it has generally been accepted that marriage provides social, psychological, and financial resources that improve overall health.

But this new study suggests things are changing and particularly for men.

Over the last 30 years, the self-rated health of never-marrieds, both men and women, has improved and men who have never married have steadily reported better health which is now almost equitable with that of their married peers.

The researchers say one reason for the trend, is that society now offers never-married men "greater access to social resources and support", that were in the past primarily offered to spouses.

But for the widowed, divorced and separated life is not so rosy as their health, again self-reported, appears to have worsened over time in relation to the married and the adverse effects of marital dissolution appear to have increased more for women than for men.

The most dramatic declines were seen in widows and widowers - in 1972, the widowed were about as likely to report good health as the married, but by 2003, they were 7% less likely to report good health than their married counterparts.

Assistant professor and sociologist Dr. Hui Liu and colleagues looked at data from the National Health Interview Survey from 1972 to 2003 which included about 1.1 million participants, who were married, widowed, divorced, separated, or never married, aged 25 to 80.

They have called for policymakers to reconsider enacting policies and programs that encourage marriage as they say encouraging marriage in order to promote health may be misguided.

The research is published in the September issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.