Get Married, Live Longer?

Written by Jessica Cruel for YourTango.com

New research shows that getting married could lengthen your life for up to 17 years. A study published in The American Journal Of Epidemiology reveals that single men have a 32 percent higher chance of death than married men across a lifetime. That means they could die eight to 17 years before the average married man — of loneliness?

Single women fare a bit better: They have a 23 percent (or about seven to 15 years) lower life expectancy compared to their married peers. This data is based on 90 studies of around 500 million people compiled over the last 60 years by researchers at the University of Louisville: No small feat.

Younger singles face greater chances of early death. The risk of death for 30 to 39-year-old singles was 128 percent higher than for married people of the same age. On the other hand, 70-year-old singles only had a 16 percent higher risk of death. Perhaps it’s because they’ve survived a single youth and emerged unscathed.

These findings may make the independent singletons among us bristle: Why does marital status have such a dramatic effect on physical longevity?

Explains David Roelfs, assistant professor of sociology at the university: “With the concurrent decline in public assistance, health benefits and the family wage in Western societies, single women are more economically and medically marginalized now than in previous years and are therefore at a higher risk for health problems and early death.”

Married couples enjoy a stronger support network, while single people, even if they have family and friends, by default have less social support, says Roelfs. Plus, those family and friends are probably pressuring them into getting married.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Teresa W.

8:39AM PST on Feb 29, 2012

If beating is so good for your health, why get married at once? It would be enough to enrage a gang of skinheads from time to time and the effect would be the same.

send a green star

8:38AM PST on Feb 29, 2012

LMj S.

12:20AM PST on Feb 10, 2012

thank you.

Nyack C.

12:37PM PST on Feb 9, 2012

Lovely photo- we all know getting married is something that happens exclusively between a man and a woman.

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Berny P.

9:02AM PST on Jan 25, 2012

I would argue the benefits of marriage depend greatly on who your married to!

George M.

10:17AM PST on Jan 17, 2012

The studies on this subject are not scientific. The researchers go into it, knowing the outcome. Could you imagine if they came out with the opposite conclusion? Besides, if 50% percent of marriages end in divorce (another false stat, by the way) then wouldn't all the divorced people die early too? This is crap science. Marry for love. Live together for love. All else is noise.

TERRY R.

1:26PM PST on Dec 12, 2011

INTERESTING

Christia F.

1:58PM PST on Dec 8, 2011

Thank you for sharing. Hugs, Tia

Julie v.

4:22AM PST on Nov 28, 2011

17 years of exstra misery if you marry an abuser!