The Big Advantage of Having a Spouse

It turns out that people who never marry are more likely to die earlier than other people, all other things being equal. This finding comes from an analysis of national census and death certificate data from 67,000 adults in the USA between 1989 and1997. In 1989, 50% of the sample were married, 10% were widowed, and 15% were divorced or separated. Five percent were cohabiting, and 20% had never been married.

More of those in an intact marriage were likely to survive during the study period, while those who had never been married were 58% more likely to have died. Surprisingly, the never married “penalty” was greater for those in very good or excellent health, and in men rather than women.

Further analysis showed that the explanation for this finding does not lie in “risky behavior”, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, being a couch potato, or overweight. The authors of the study suggest that marriage is a rough proxy for social connectedness, which is known to influence the frequency of certain conditions such as depression and Alzheimer’s disease.

So, men, if you’re unmarried, get busy - a wife may prove a life-saver. If you look around, carefully, you’ll at least improve your social connectedness, I would guess.