Marriage and Health
A glimpse of current literature regarding the benefits of monogamy:
Effects on adults
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“Marriage reduces depression”
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“Unmarried adults are more likely to drink, use
marijuana, and drive recklessly”
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“Married men and women experience lower
mortality at every age relative to those who remain unmarried or lose their
spouse through widowhood or divorce”
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“A number of rigorous studies reveal that
marriage can also lead to better general physical health and better outcomes
for some specific health conditions, including arthritis, hypertension, and
heart disease”
“Individual
studies report a higher prevalence of somatization, depression, anxiety,
hostility, psychoticism and psychiatric disorder in polygynous wives as well as
reduced life and marital satisfaction, problematic family functioning and low self-esteem.”
Effects on children
“Participants reporting a history of parental
divorce present a significantly higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders,
particularly alcohol and drug use disorders compared with control subjects. While
participants experiencing the death of a parent reported a poorer overall
health, the prevalence of psychiatric disorder after 17 years of age was not
significantly higher than that of the control subjects.”
“Children from fatherless homes are more likely to
be poor, become involved in drug and alcohol abuse, drop out of school, and
suffer from health and emotional problems. Boys are more likely to become
involved in crime, and girls are more likely to become pregnant as teens.”
Economic benefits
“Married respondents experience per person net
worth increases of 77 percent over single respondents. Additionally, their
wealth increases on average 16 percent for each year of marriage. Divorced
respondents’ wealth starts falling four years before divorce and they
experience an average wealth drop of 77 percent.”