Married men live longer, study shows

By Sam Davies

Monday 30 June 2014

Married men are mentally and physically more healthy than single men, and therefore live longer, according to a new study.

Marriage might be the end of a man's single life, but can lead to a longer life overall, latest research suggests.

A report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Preventionfound married men were more likely than single men or those living de-facto to have visited a doctor over the last 12 months.

Moreover, married men were more likely than their cohabiting counterparts to schedule a checkup for blood pressure or screening for diabetes.

Researchers suggested the phenomenon could be due to persistent reminders from loved ones to take better care of their health.

"When men have the means to access health care, spouses may play a role in their use of health care by directly encouraging men to seek preventive care and by indirectly evoking in men a sense of economic and social obligation to the family," the authors said.

"The results suggest that cohabiting partners do not play a similar health-promoting role."

The research is the latest in a string of studies highlighting positive health effects from marriage, at least for men. Harvard researchers last year found that marriage had a positive impact on the diagnosis, use of definitive therapy and mortality rate of male cancer patients.

For females however, the health implications of marriage were less clear. "The benefit associated with marriage was greater in males than females for all outcome measures analysed," the Harvard report said.

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