Marriage is good for your health
While the squabbles and laundry burden may often make marriage seem more like a chore than a blessing, recent research shows that marriage really is good for your health.
Psychologists have found that marriage makes men and women far less likely to suffer from anxiety – but puts you at greater risk of mental illness if you eventually break up.
An exhaustive study of nearly 35,000 people across 15 countries found husbands and wives are less likely to suffer depression and anxiety when they are together. However, it found that ending marriage through separation, divorce or death is linked to an increased risk of mental health disorders, with women more likely to resort to substance abuse and men more likely to become depressed.
The survey was led by clinical psychologist Kate Scott from New Zealand’s University of Otago. It was based on the WHO World Mental Health (WMH) surveys conducted over the past decade.
Dr Scott says: ‘What makes this investigation unique and more robust is the sample is so large and across so many countries and the fact that we have data not only on depression… but also on anxiety and substance use disorders.
‘In addition, we were able to look at what happens to mental health in marriage, both in comparison with never getting married, and with ending marriage.’
Scott said that the study found that getting married, compared to not getting married, was good for the mental health of both genders, not just women, as previous studies had found.
She concluded: ‘What our study points to is that the marital relationship offers a lot of mental health benefits for both men and women, and that the distress and disruption associated with ending marriage can make people vulnerable to developing mental disorders.’
Amy Lindsay – MyFaceMyBody.com Journalist
