Marriage is good for Your Health – If you do it Right!

Married people around the world finally have the comeback they need when they have an argument or a rough patch – being married is actually good for your health and can help majorly reduce the risk of both depression and anxiety for both members of the marriage.

However, it’s only as good as your relationship, and if you do end up breaking up you could see depression and anxiety returning at a much higher level than you saw before your marriage – and not just during the break up but years after, as well.

The study was conducted at the University of Otago, New Zealand and involved some 34,493 people from around 15 different countries based of the past decade of surveys conducted by the World Mental Health organisation.

Ending marriage through separation divorce or death (are there that many other ways?) could lead to increased risk of mental health problems although women are more likely to turn to substance abuse while men are likely to become depressed.

If you stay together though, the news is good. Comparing to those who remain unmarried, married people have better mental health. Although previous studies had been conducted in the area, they had only concluded that marriage was better to the mental health of the woman, this study includes both sexes.

The study found a few gender differences though – men are less likely to get depression in the first marriage, while women are less like to turn to substance abuse, possibly because women are often the primary caregivers for children in the traditional gender roles.

Clincal psychologist Kate Scott, head of the study said:

“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 disorder.”
“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.”