Marital Happiness, Marital Status, Health, and Longevity

Numerous studies have documented better health among married than unmarried adults, although the causality of the association has not been ... Skiptomaincontent Advertisement SearchSpringerLink Search AbstractMarriedindividualsarehealthierandlivelongerthanthosewhoarenevermarried,divorced,orwidowed.Butnotallmarriagesareequal:unhappymarriagesprovidefewerbenefitsthanhappyones.ThisstudyexaminedhealthandlongevityacrossanationallyrepresentativesampleofU.S.adults,combiningmeasuresofmaritalstatusandmaritalhappinesstocomparethosewhowere“veryhappy”inmarriagetothosewhowere“prettyhappy”inmarriage,“nottoohappy”inmarriage,nevermarried,divorcedorseparated,orwidowed.WeemployedtheGeneralSocialSurvey–NationalDeathIndextoilluminatetheassociationsamongmaritalstatus,maritalhappiness,generalhappiness,andself-ratedhealthandmortalityrisk.Comparedtoindividualswhowere“veryhappily”married,thosewhowere“nottoohappy”inmarriagewereovertwiceaslikelytoreportworsehealthandalmost40%morelikelytodieoverthefollow-upperiod,netofsocioeconomic,geographic,andreligiosityfactors.Thosenottoohappyinmarriagealsohadequalorworsehealthandmortalityriskcomparedtothosewhowerenevermarried,divorcedorseparated,orwidowed.Resultsfurtherindicatethatgeneralhappinessunderliesmuchoftherelationshipbetweenmaritalhappinessandbetterhealthandlongevity.Theliteratureonthehealthandlongevitybenefitsofmarriageiswellestablished,butourresultssuggestthatindividualsinunhappymarriagesmaybeavulnerablepopulation.Weconcludethatsubjectivewell-beingandrelationshipqualitycontributetothehealthbenefitsofmarriage. Thisisapreviewofsubscriptioncontent,accessviayourinstitution. Accessoptions Buysinglearticle InstantaccesstothefullarticlePDF. 39,95€ PriceincludesVAT(Singapore) RentthisarticleviaDeepDyve. LearnmoreaboutInstitutionalsubscriptions NotesWealsoestimatedmodelswithallavailableyears(1978–2002);findingswerecomparabletothoseshownhere.Weusedthisfour-pointscalebecauseitisconsistentlyavailableforallyearsanalyzedhere;themoreconventionalfive-pointscalewasnotadministereduntil2002.Modelswhereeachofthesecategoriesweredisaggregatedratherthanmergedyieldedsimilarfindingstothoseshown.Multicollinearitydiagnosticsindicatednoproblems,withvarianceinflationfactorsallbelow3.5.ReferencesAber,L.,Butler,S.,Danziger,S.,Doar,R.,Ellwood,D.,Gueron,J.,etal.(2015).Opportunity,responsibility,andsecurity:AconsensusplanforreducingpovertyandrestoringtheAmericandream.Washington,DC:AmericanEnterpriseInstituteforPublicPolicyResearch/BrookingsInstitution. 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JHappinessStud20,1539–1561(2019).https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-0009-9DownloadcitationPublished:20July2018IssueDate:15June2019DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-0009-9SharethisarticleAnyoneyousharethefollowinglinkwithwillbeabletoreadthiscontent:GetshareablelinkSorry,ashareablelinkisnotcurrentlyavailableforthisarticle.Copytoclipboard ProvidedbytheSpringerNatureSharedItcontent-sharinginitiative KeywordsMaritalstatusMaritalhappinessSelf-ratedhealthMortalityGeneralhappinessGeneralSocialSurveyUnitedStates Accessviayourinstitution Accessoptions Buysinglearticle InstantaccesstothefullarticlePDF. 39,95€ PriceincludesVAT(Singapore) RentthisarticleviaDeepDyve. LearnmoreaboutInstitutionalsubscriptions Advertisement