{"id":5830,"date":"2024-11-12T17:22:53","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T22:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/?p=5830"},"modified":"2024-11-12T17:22:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T22:22:53","slug":"is-marriage-good-for-your-mental-health-new-study-reveals-how-having-a-spouse-impacts-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/11\/is-marriage-good-for-your-mental-health-new-study-reveals-how-having-a-spouse-impacts-happiness.html","title":{"rendered":"Is Marriage Good For Your Mental Health? New Study Reveals How Having a Spouse Impacts Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Go ahead and tie the knot\u2014not just for love, but for your health too.<\/p>\n

A new study indicates that single individuals worldwide face a higher risk of mental health issues compared to those who are married.<\/p>\n

“Our analysis revealed that unmarried individuals had a higher risk of depressive symptoms than their married counterparts across all countries,” wrote the authors of the new study published in the Nature Human Behavior Journal.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Led by Cuicui Wang from Harvard University, the research team examined data from 106,556 participants in seven countries, including the US, UK, Mexico, Ireland, Korea, China, and Indonesia, to explore the link between depression and marital status.<\/p>\n

Depression is recognized as a significant public health concern, affecting an estimated 5 percent of adults globally. This figure is expected to rise to over 10 percent by 2025.<\/p>\n

The study found that single individuals are 79 percent more likely to experience depression compared to those who are married.<\/p>\n

Equally concerning, widows face a 64 percent higher risk of struggling with depression, while divorced individuals have a 99 percent greater likelihood of suffering from depression compared to those in happy marriages.<\/p>\n

Recent statistics published in Global Epidemiology show that marriage reduces mortality rates by one-third for women.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, another study found that even those in unhappy marriages tend to have better health outcomes than those who are single.<\/p>\n

“Marital\/cohabitating relationships [are] inversely related to HbA1c levels regardless of dimensions of spousal support or strain,” stated researchers, highlighting that being in a relationship, whether fulfilling or not, helps keep blood sugar levels in check.<\/p>\n

Wang and her co-authors suggested that the health advantages of marriage may include better access to economic resources, social support exchange, and the positive influence of spouses on each other\u2019s mental health.<\/p>\n

For single individuals, the risk of depression was found to be highest in Western countries, such as the US, UK, and Ireland, compared to Eastern countries like China, Korea, and Indonesia. However, the study noted that increased alcohol consumption raised the risk of future depressive symptoms among single, widowed, and divorced or separated individuals in China, Korea, and Mexico.<\/p>\n

Despite these findings, New York\u2019s oldest resident recently shared with The Post<\/em><\/a> that remaining single is her secret to a long life. “That’s why I am living. That’s why I am OK because I didn’t get married,” said Louise Jean Signore, of the Bronx, just before her 112th birthday in August. “No marriage, no children. I\u2019d rather be single.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Go ahead and tie the knot\u2014not just for love, but for your health too. A new study indicates that single individuals worldwide face a higher risk of mental health issues compared to those who are married. “Our analysis revealed that unmarried individuals had a higher risk of depressive symptoms than their married counterparts across all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":5836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Marriage Good For Your Mental Health? New Study Reveals How Having a Spouse Impacts Happiness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2024\/11\/is-marriage-good-for-your-mental-health-new-study-reveals-how-having-a-spouse-impacts-happiness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Marriage Good For Your Mental Health? New Study Reveals How Having a Spouse Impacts Happiness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Go ahead and tie the knot\u2014not just for love, but for your health too. 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