Married People Are Healthier Than Singles

Statistics was always supporting the idea that married couples are healthier, and researchers were suggesting hypothesis on why it is so. One version is that married people have better access to social support resources, the other one is that married people are happier, which results in better overall health.

This new research found that single men and women are getting healthier, and the change was significant during the past three decades. This is probably because single men now have similar access to social support resources than married people do. However, the difference between health status still exists, and researchers suggest that it's mainly because married people are really happier than singles.

Researchers from Michigan State University in East Lansing examined data from National Health Interview Survey, which was conducted during a 32 year period of time involving 1.1 million Americans aged from 25 to 80 - married, never married, divorces, widowed, separated. The survey was based on self-reported data on health status.

Researchers have found that married and single men and women are almost equally healthy. However, those divorced reported the worst health status. This is because they are less happy and it seriously affects overall health.

"This study provides confirmation that marriage does tend to make people healthier. They didn't look at the quality of an individual marriage, but that being married is more likely overall to make you happier than not being married," said Scott Wetzler from Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

By Ruzanna Haroutiunyan