Why Marriage May Reduce Your Risk of Death, Even If You End Up Divorced – Study
A new study from Global Epidemiology discovered marriage helps reduce the death rate by a third for females, even for those who later divorced.
The researchers said marriage is a near-universal, essential part of humanity. Also, it significantly improves the overall health of women.
“Our findings… ought to serve as a wake-up call for a society in significant denial about this crucial element of flourishing,” wrote two of the marriage study’s co-authors.
How did the marriage study work?
A new study of nearly 12,000 women finds that getting married brings significant benefits in health and well-being, bolstering the case for marriage as a social good. https://t.co/2JEvXXKbhz
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 19, 2023
The marriage study examined 11,830 American female nurses who decided to get married in the early 1990s.
Most of them are white and relatively well off, and none of them have tied the knot prior to joining the study.
Later, the researchers compared the participants who got married between 1989 and 1993 and those who never made that decision.
Researchers examined how these women’s lives turned out after roughly 25 years. Moreover, the experts accounted for various outcomes based on physical and mental health and longevity.
The women who married in that time frame had a 35% reduced risk of death compared to ladies who never married.
The women who later divorced had the same health perk. Moreover, married ladies had lower risks of heart disease, loneliness, and depression.
Moreover, the marriage study found they displayed more optimism and a greater sense of purpose. Yet, the experts mentioned the benefits of staying married.
The ladies who eventually divorced had a 19% higher chance of death than those who stayed married.
Also, they reported poorer health and other negative effects like depression and isolation. However, the authors acknowledged they need more research on marriage’s effect on men.
According to Beresford Research, people born from 1965 to 1980 belong to Generation X. Meanwhile, Generation X includes people born from 1997 to 2012.
They also noted that their participants belonged to Gen X. As a result, they had exposure to a different set of cultural norms and factors that Gen Z would in their marriage age.
Despite these issues, the authors called for policy changes to “promote healthy marriages,” especially when the US marriage rate is dropping to record laws.
