The health benefits of marriage
It has long been recognized that people who are married tend to live longer than people who are unmarried (either never been married, divorced, or widowed). Researchers think that this beneficial effect of marriage can be attributed to three factors.
First, marriage has a protective effect on the partners. Research has not shown that being married for the first time has any immediate effects; rather, the effect shows up as time passes. Married men have been found to enjoy better health than single men. Why? There are a variety of factors that come intoplay, including a home atmosphere that reduces stress and illnesses that canresult from stress; better nutrition; reduction in bad habits, such as excessive drinking and tobacco smoking; and care in times of illness. In addition,it is believed that married partners tend to "keep an eye" on each other's health status, and alert one another to anything out of the ordinary.
Second, it may be that healthy people tend to get married more often than less-healthy people--a factor researchers call "positive selection." However, research has shown that health men tend to postpone marriage, marrying later inlife, while their less-healthy peers pursue marriage more actively. This hasgiven rise to the third theory, that of "adverse selection" into marriage. Such men tend to marry earlier, remain married, and are more likely to remarryafter divorce or the death of their wives. For them, being married is a chance to promote health and longevity.
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