Friday, December 6, 2002
Get married and health, wealth and happiness will follow
A story published by the Business Journal reports that for years, people have climbed the ladder of success by working long hours and taking on extra projects, often sacrificing time with family. Now, new research demonstrates that they would actually be healthier, wealthier and happier if they concentrated more on their marriage.
Book authors Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher (The Case For Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier and Better Off Financially) present convincing arguments that the effort to build and maintain a marriage pays off with long-term success that is impossible to find in the workplace.
If you are looking for a long and healthy life, the authors point to research that demonstrates that married folks tend to live longer and healthier than their single, divorced or widowed counterparts.
The authors also point out some statistics:
- Non-married people have significantly higher rates of mortality; 50 percent higher among women and 250 percent higher among men.
- The unmarried are far more likely to die from all causes, including coronary heart disease, stroke, pneumonia, cancer, cirrhosis, automobile accidents, murder and suicide.
- Being married improves mental health for both men and women — there is someone to talk to. Spouses discuss their worries, dreams and disappointments with their partners, which helps relieve stress and anxiety.
Researchers also found that there were positive effects from the "nag factor," the routine nagging that spouses do to encourage a positive lifestyle and decrease destructive habits such as smoking or drinking to excess.
A healthy marriage may also be the starting point for a growing net worth. Not only is divorce very costly in the short run, the long-term effects of not being married dramatically affect how financially secure you become.
Consider:
- At retirement, a typical married couple has accumulated about $410,000, compared to about $167,000 for someone never married, about $145,000 for a divorced person and just under $96,000 for a separated person.
- Spouses have better health and life insurance coverage.
- Married people have increased access to pensions and Social Security.
- Being married provides "insurance." In case of death, spouses almost always leave their worldly goods, Social Security and pension benefits to their wives or husbands. By getting married, spouses create an "annuity value" that is equal to increasing one's wealth by 12 to 14 percent at age 30 and by 30 percent at age 75, compared to staying single.
In spite of the jokes and comedy routines, married folks also tend to be happier than their single counterparts.
- Married men and women report less depression, less anxiety and lower levels of other types of psychological distress than do those who are single, divorced or widowed.
- Widowed and divorced persons are about three times as likely to commit suicide.
- Marital status is one of the most important predictors of happiness. Forty percent of married people said they are very happy with their life in general, compared to just under a quarter of those who were single or who were cohabiting.
