RESEARCH BRIEF: Don’t Be Afraid to Ask or Say Yes
The Many Benefits of Natural Marriage
By: Joshua Denton
March 1, 2017
*This research relies heavily on Marripedia, marripedia.org.
Intro
The family is the bedrock and most fundamental relationship for all society. Within the family is contained the five pillars of society: family, church, school, marketplace and government. Yet, in our society, the number of unmarried couples has increased intensely over the course of the past forty to fifty years. In addition, the majority of younger Americans now spend a duration cohabiting, living together outside of or before marriage.
Bradford Wilcox, a senior fellow of the Institute for Family Studies and the director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia and Nicholas H. Wolfinger, a professor of family and consumer studies and adjunct professor of sociology at the University of Utah collaborated on a piece entitled, “Hey Guys Put A Ring On It.” In that essay, they encourage men and women that “If you’re in love, and you have a worthy partner, don’t be put off by the ball-and-chain myth.”
BETTER PARENTAL RELATIONSHIPS
Marriage enhances an adult’s ability to parent and also generally creates a greater sense of attachment to one’s own parents because parenting adults typically begin to appreciate what their parents did for them more so than adults who have not yet begun to raise children. Married people are more likely to give and receive support with their parents and are more likely to consider their parents as means for possible support in case of an emergency.
MORE ENJOYABLE SEX
Current cohabiters are more likely to have been unfaithful in the past 12 months than married persons.[1] Research indicates that marriage brings with it an increased commitment and responsibility, and therefore a simultaneous increased stability and affection.
Married mothers report greater love and feelings of intimacy in their romantic relationships with their spouses than cohabiting or single mothers.[2]
Not surprisingly, married men and women report the most sexual pleasure and fulfillment.[3] Married men and women also more often describe their sexual intercourse as enjoyable.[4] This is quite natural and expected given that married couples typically find their sexual relationships more satisfying than cohabiters do.[5] A larger fraction of individuals in intact marriages than always-single, divorced or separated, or divorced and remarried persons report “very, extremely” enjoying intercourse with their current sexual partner.[6] A larger fraction of individuals in intact marriages than always-single, divorced or separated, or divorced and remarried persons report feeling satisfied, loved, “taken care of,” and “thrilled or excited” during intercourse with their current sexual partner. Marriage is about nurture, caring, and showing unconditional love. Such is not always – or perhaps even often – the case with cohabiters or other similar living styles and arrangements. Those in always-intact marriages are most likely to report feeling wanted and needed during intercourse (92 percent). Such experiences of feeling loved and needed are less prevalent in non-intact family structures and among singles who engage in sexual behavior outside of marriage.[7]
Correspondingly, a smaller fraction of individuals in intact marriages than always-single, divorced or separated, or divorced and remarried persons report feeling guilty, sad, or scared or afraid during intercourse with their current sexual partner. Those in always-intact marriages were the least likely to feel anxious or worried during intercourse with their current sexual partner (6.8 percent). Feeling anxious or worried during intercourse is more prevalent among those in non-intact structures and among singles. Statistics show that 12.1 percent of those who were divorced and remarried; 20.6 percent of those who were divorced or separated; and 25.9 percent of those who were always single feel anxious or worried during intercourse with their current sexual partner.[8] This shows that sex outside of natural marriage does not render or necessarily encourage the feelings of love, nurture, and care that sex within marriage more often brings.
GREATER EMPHASIS ON RELIGION
Direct marriage (rather than cohabitation prior to marriage) has a positive effect on religious participation in young adults.[9] Many young adults who participate in religious activities or attend church services tend to be acquainted with the biblical philosophy that sexual intercourse outside of marriage is immoral. However young adults who might be ignoring this knowledge in order to experience temporary gratification of sexual desire or perhaps to alleviate financial stress are more likely to be ignoring the moral aspect of cohabitation. This could lead to a decline in religious participation.
IMPROVED ENVIRONMENT FOR CHILDREN
Marriage brings with it more stability for children. Children born into a stable marriage environment receive better quality of life than children born into other settings. Parents in always-intact married families are more likely to help their children do their homework than are parents in single-parent families.[10] Additionally, children of married parents are more engaged in school than children from all other family structures.[11] Kindergarten children from married families have higher reading scores than those from cohabiting families.[12] Perhaps the most significant thing to point out, is that children from intact married families have the highest high school graduation rate.[13] Also, children from married families are more likely to gain more education after graduating from high school than those from other family structures.[14]
Children in intact married families suffer less child abuse than children from any other family structure.[15] Children and adolescents from intact married families exhibit more emotional and behavioral well-being than children who are in cohabiting or step families.[16]
Married mothers practice better prenatal care and more consistently avoid harmful substances than unmarried mothers do.[17] Married mothers are less likely to have children with low birth weight than stably cohabiting mothers or mothers involved in a solely romantic relationship with their baby’s father.[18]
Marriage also typically produces more well-behaved children. First-grade children born to married mothers are less likely to exhibit disruptive behavior, such as disobeying a teacher or behaving aggressively towards peers, than children born to cohabiting or single mothers.[19] A healthy marriage with a loving, nurturing mother and father can also hugely discourage “acting out” or criminal activity on the part of teens. Adolescents from intact married families are less frequently suspended, expelled, or delinquent, and less frequently experience school problems than children from other family structures.[20]
Living in a non-intact family is associated with an increased likelihood of committing violent and non-violent crime and drunk driving.[21] Adolescents from parents with two biological parents or two adoptive parents are less likely to exhibit behavioral problems.[22] Overall, young adults are best off when raised by two continuously married parents with a low-conflict, nurturing relationship.[23]
INCREASED MALE RESPONSIBILITY
Marriage encourages males to be better men. Married men are also less likely to commit crimes.[24] Married men tend to be more mature in many areas than there are more likely to work than cohabiting men.[25] Married fathers work more hours than cohabiting fathers.[26] The most shocking factor might be the fact that men’s productivity increases by 26 percent as a result of marrying.[27]
MORE LUCRATIVE FINANCES
Not as surprising – but directly correlated – married families have larger incomes.[28] Intact married families have the largest annual income of all family structures with children under 18.[29] This of course is a benefit not just to males, but also to females. Women in intact marriages have a higher income-to-needs ratio than divorced, separated, widowed, and never-married women. Mothers in stable marriages have higher income-to-needs ratios as well than women with a long-term history of single motherhood.[30]
Married individuals often qualify for discounts or family rates on car, health and homeowners insurance, that unmarried couples or individuals would not otherwise be eligible to receive.[31] Married families also receive various tax benefits that cohabiting couples do not receive.[32] Research indicates that married couples are better at budgeting and finances, and save more than unmarried couples.[33] Married households have a larger average net worth at retirement than other family structures.[34] Intact married families have the highest net worth of all families with children (widowed families excepted).[35] Married households enjoyed a net worth growth of $3,000-$17,000 higher (over two years) than did other family structures, according to 1992-2006 data.[36]
The married family is less likely to be poor than male or female householders.[37] Marriage between the biological single parents of impoverished children would move 70 percent of them immediately above the poverty line – a truly astounding but simple solution.[38] Married couples are also less likely to receive government aid or assistance in the forms of welfare, food stamps, or subsidized housing assistance. Married parents spend more on important things like education and less on frivolous pleasures such as alcohol and tobacco when compared to cohabiting parents.
ENHANCED SAFETY FOR WOMEN
Marriage is associated with lower rates of domestic violence and abuse, compared to cohabitation.[39] Although this isn’t necessarily a pretty fact to talk about, married women are murdered by their spouses at a far lower rate than cohabiting women are murdered by their partners.[40] In conflict or arguments, married couples are less likely to react physically (to hit, shove, or throw items) than cohabiting couples are.[41] Married women are less likely to have been forced to perform a sexual act (9 percent) than unmarried women (46 percent).[42]
BETTER PHYSICAL HEALTH
Marriage is beneficial for the health of both parties, but especially the elderly, and particularly so for women.[43] Married women are healthier than never-married women.[44] Married women’s likelihood of becoming seriously ill decreases the longer they are married.[45] Married men and women are more likely to have health insurance as well.[46] Married individuals are released from hospitals sooner, on average, than unmarried individuals,[47] and spend half as much time in hospitals as single individuals. Married men have lower levels of stress hormones.[48]
Married women rate their health better than do divorced, separated, widowed, and never-married women.[49] Married men and women have higher survival rates after being diagnosed with cancer, regardless of the stage of the cancer’s progression.[50] Married persons’ responses to cancer treatment are better and are comparable to those of people 10 years younger.[51] A smaller ratio of married individuals die of cirrhosis of the liver, lung cancer, tuberculosis, and diabetes than never-married, divorced, and widowed individuals, controlling for age.[52] After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, married men live longer.[53] Unmarried women with breast cancer are more likely to be diagnosed later and have higher three-year (breast cancer-specific) morbidity.[54] Married people are less likely to die after being hospitalized for a heart attack.[55]
BETTER MENTAL HEALTH
Married people are also the most likely to have good mental health and the least likely to have mental disorders.[56] Interestingly, many married people are much more likely to report being happy than cohabiters.[57]Married individuals occupy hospitals and health institutions less often than others.[58] Marriage protects against feelings of prolonged sadness, and especially loneliness.[59] Married persons have higher levels of emotional and psychological well-being than those who are single, divorced, or cohabiting.[60] Married mothers enjoy greater psychological well-being and greater love and intimacy than cohabiting or single mothers.[61] Married women experience less psychological distress.[62] Married individuals report less depression[63] than cohabiting couples. Married mothers report less feelings of depression, more support from their partners, and more stable relationships than cohabiting mothers.[64] Married people are least likely to commit suicide.[65]
Married people have lower mortality rates,[66] including lower risk of death from accidents, disease, and self-inflicted injuries and suicide.[67] The longer a person’s marriage, the lower is their mortality risk, relative to that of the unmarried.[68]
BETTER SEXUAL HEALTH
Marriage encourages a healthier sexual lifestyle. A smaller percentage of individuals in intact marriages than always single, divorced and remarried, or divorced and separated persons have ever had a sexually transmitted disease.[69]
LESS DRUG AND ALCHOHOL ABUSE
In addition, married individuals are less likely to consume illegal and harmful narcotics or substances. Married individuals smoke and binge drink less frequently than cohabiters.[70]
Continuously married adults less frequently report that they sometimes drink too much.[71] Married women have fewer alcohol problems.[72] Married individuals are more likely to cease using marijuana, due in part to improvements in self-control.[73]
GREATER SOCIAL SUPPORT
Older married couples enjoy more social support than older cohabiting couples.[74] Married mothers enjoy more social support than cohabiting or single mothers.[75]
Footnotes:
[1] Judith Treas and Deirdre Giesen, “Sexual Infidelity among Married and Cohabiting Americans,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 62, no. 1 (2000): 54.
[2] Stacy Rosenkrantz Aronson and Aletha C. Huston, “The mother-infant relationship in single, cohabiting, and married families: a case for marriage?” Journal of Family Psychology 18, no. 1 (March 2004): 5-18. As cited by The Heritage Foundation: Family Facts. Available at http://www.familyfacts.org/search?q=huston%20and%20aronson&type=findings&page=1. Accessed February 28, 2017.
[3] Robert T. Michael, et al., Sex in America: A Definitive Survey (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1994), 124-129; Edward O. Laumann, et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 364, table 10.5; Andrew Greeley, Faithful Attraction: Discovering Intimacy, Love and Fidelity in American Marriage (New York: Tom Doherty Association, 1991), see chapter 6. As cited in Glenn T. Stanton, “Why Marriage Matters.” Available at http://www.ampartnership.org/resourcecenter/news/89-why-marriage-matters.html. Accessed February 28, 2017.
[4] Linda J. Waite and Maggie Gallagher, “The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better off Financially.”
[5] D.G. Blanchflower and A.J. Oswald, “Money, Sex and Happiness: An Empirical Study,” Scandinavian Journal of Economics 106, no. 3 (2006)
[6] Patrick F. Fagan and Althea Nagai, “Degree to Which Respondent Enjoys Intercourse with Current Sexual Partner by Current Religious Attendance and Marital Status,” available at http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF14D53.pdf and http://marripedia.org/effects.of.marriage.on.couples.relationships. Accessed February 28, 2017.
[7] Patrick F. Fagan and Althea Nagai, ““Feels Wanted, Needed During Intercourse” with Current Sexual Partner by Marital Status and Religious Attendance,” Mapping America Project. Available at http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF13J24.p
[8] Patrick F. Fagan and Althea Nagai, “’Feels Anxious, Worried During Intercourse with Current Sexual Partner,’by Marital Status and Religious Attendance,” Mapping America Project. Available at http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF14G24.p
[9] Arland Thornton, William G. Axinn, and Daniel H. Hill, “Reciprocal Effects of Religiosity, Cohabitation, and Marriage,” The American Journal of Sociology 98, no. 3 (1992): 643.
[10] Frank F. Furstenberg and Christine Winquist Nord, “Parenting apart: Patterns of childrearing after marital disruption,” Journal ofMarriage and the Family 47 (1985): 893-904. As cited in Sandra J. Balli, David H. Demo, John F. Wedman, “Family Involvement with Children’s Homework: An Intervention in the Middle Grades,” Family Relations 47, no. 2 (April 1998): 150.
[11] Susan L. Brown, “Family Structure and Child Well-Being: The Significance of Parental Cohabitation,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 66, no. 2 (2004): 362.
Jay D. Teachman, “The Living Arrangements of Children and their Educational Well-Being,” Journal of Family Issues 29, no. 6 (2008): 747.
Sarah Halpern-Meekin and Laura Tach, “Heterogenity in Two-Parent Families and Adolescent Well-Being,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 70, no. 2 (2008): 445.
[12] Julie Artis, “Maternal Cohabitation and Child Well-Being Among Kindergarten Children,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 69, no. 1 (2007): 227-232.
[13] Patrick F. Fagan and Scott Talkington, “‘Ever Received a High School Degree’ by Structure of Family of Origin and Current Religious Attendance.” Available at http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF10K10.pdf. Accessed February 28, 2017.
[14] Jan O. Jonsson and Michael Gahler, “Family Dissolution, Family Reconstitution, and Children’s Educational Careers: Recent Evidence for Sweden,” Demography 34, no. 2 (1997): 285.
[15] A.J. Sedlak, et al., Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS–4): Report to Congress (2010): 5-19.
[16] Susan Brown, “Family Structure and Child Well-Being: The Significance of Parental Cohabitation,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 66, no. 2 (2004): 364. See also Gregory Acs and Sandi Nelson, “The Kids Are Alright? Children Well-Being and the Rise in Cohabitation,” Assessing the New Federalism Policy Brief B-48 (Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute, 2002): 3.
[17] Rachel T. Kimbro, “Together Forever? Romantic Relationship Characteristics and Prenatal Health Behaviors,” Journal of Marriage and Family 70 (2008): 751-753. Julien O. Teitler, “Father Involvement, Child Health and Maternal Health Behavior,” Children and Youth Services Review 23, nos. 4 and 5 (2001): 413-414.
[18] Sheryl T. Bird, et al., “Beyond Marital Status: Relationship Type and Duration and the Risk of Low Birth Weight,” Family Planning Perspectives 32, no. 6 (2000): 285.
[19] Shannon E. Cavanagh and Aletha C. Houston, “Family Instability and Children’s Early Problem Behavior,” Social Forces 85, no. 1 (September 2006): 551-581.
[20] Paul R. Amato, “The Impact of Family Formation Change on the Cognitive, Social, and Emotional Wellbeing of the Next Generation,” Future of Children, 15 (2005): 86.
Wendy D. Manning and Kathleen A. Lamb, “Adolescent Well-Being in Cohabitating, Married, and Single-Parent Families,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 65, no. 4 (2003): 885-893.
A.U. Rickel and T.S. Langer, “Short-term and long-term effects of marital disruption on children,” American Journal of Community Psychology 13 (1985): 599–661.
[21] Anu Sauvola, “The Association Between Single-Parent Family Background and Physical Morbidity, Mortality, and Criminal Behaviour in Adulthood,” PhD dissertation, University of Oulu. Oulu, Finland: Acta Universitatis Ouluensis Medica D. 629, 47-52.
[22] Jeffrey J. Wood, Rena L. Repetti, and Scott C. Roesch, “Divorce and Children’s Adjustment Problems at Home and School: The Role of Depressive/Withdrawn Parenting,” Child Psychiatry and Human Development 35, no. 2 (2004): 131.
[23] Juliana M. Sobolewski and Paul R. Amato, “Parents’ Discord and Divorce, Parent-Child Relationships and Subjective Well-Being in Early Adulthood: Is Feeling Close to Two Parents Always Better Than Feeling Close to One?,” Social Forces 85, no. 3 (2007): 1121.
[24] Ryan D. King, Michael Massoglia, and Ross McMillan, “The Context of Marriage and Crime: Gender, the Propensity to Marry, and Offending in Early Adulthood,” Criminology, 445 (2007): 33-65. As cited by The Heritage Foundation: Family Facts. Available at http://www.familyfacts.org/briefs/26/marriage-and-family-as-deterrents-from-delinquency-violence-and-crime. Accessed February 28, 2017.
Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub, “Crime and deviance over the life course: The salience of adult social bonds,” American Sociology Review 55 (1990): 609-627.
[25] Wendy Manning and Daniel Lichter, “Parental Cohabitation and Children’s Economic Well-Being,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 58, no. 4 (1996): 1003.
[26] U.S. Census Bureau, “Evidence From Census 2000 About Earnings by Detailed Occupation for Men and Women,” Census 2000 Special Reports, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. (2004). Brett V. Brown, “The single-father family: Demographic, economic, and public transfer use characteristics,” Marriage and Family Review 29 (2000): 203-220.
[27] Kate Antonovics and Robert Town, “Are All the Good Men Married? Uncovering Sources of the Marital Wage Premium,” American Economic Review 9 (May 2004) 317-321. As cited in Patrick F. Fagan, “The Family GDP: How Marriage and Fertility Drive the Economy,” The Family in America 24, no. 2 (Spring 2010): 141.
[28] Joseph Lupton and James P. Smith, “Marriage, Assets, and Savings,” Labor and Population Program, Working Paper Series 99-12 (November 1999): 16-17. As cited in Patrick F. Fagan, Andrew J. Kidd, and Henry Potrykus, “Marriage and Economic Well-Being: The Economy of the Family Rises or Falls with Marriage,” (May 2011).
[29] Survey of Consumer Finance, 2007. As cited in Patrick F. Fagan, Andrew J. Kidd, and Henry Potrykus, “Marriage and Economic Well-Being: The Economy of the Family Rises or Falls with Marriage.” Available at http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/marriage-2/marriage-and-economic-well-being-the-economy-of-the-family-rises-or-falls-with-marriage/. Accessed February 28, 2017.
[30] Richard W. Johnson and Melissa M. Favreault, “Economic Status in Later Life among Women Who Raised Children Outside of Marriage,” Journal of Gerontology 59B, no. 6 (2004): S321. See also Pamela J. Smock, Wendy D. Manning, and Sanjiv Gupta, “The Effect of Marriage and Divorce on Women’s Economic WellBeing,” American Sociological Review 64, no. 6 (December 1999): 803.
[31] Jacob Silverman, “How Marriage Works.” Available at http://people.howstuffworks.com/marriage1.htm. Accessed 26 July 2011. The State Farm website says that insurance rates drop for men under 25 who marry.
[32] Jacob Silverman, “How Marriage Works.” Available at http://people.howstuffworks.com/marriage1.htm.
[33] Joseph Lupton and James P. Smith, “Marriage, Assets, and Savings,” in Marriage and the Economy: Theory and Evidence From Advanced Industrial Societies, ed. Shoshana A. Grossbard-Schectman (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 129-152. As cited by The Heritage Foundation: Family Facts. Available at http://www.familyfacts.org/briefs/31/family-structure-andeconomic-well-being.
[34] Joseph Lupton and James P. Smith, “Marriage, Assets, and Savings,” Labor and Population Program, Working Paper Series 99-12 (November 1999): 33.
[35] Survey of Consumer Finance, Federal Reserve Board (2007). Available at https://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/scf/scf_2004.htm. Accessed February 28, 2017.
[36] Julie Zissimopoulos, “Gain and Loss: Marriage and Wealth Changes over Time,” Michigan Retirement Research Center, Working Paper (January 2009): 9, 22.
[37] Current Population Reports, Series P-6043, U.S. Census Bureau. Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Jessica C. Smith, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2007, Current Population Reports, Series P60-235, “Table B-3: Poverty Status of Families by Type of Family: 1959 to 2007,” Washington, D.C.: Bureau of the Census, 2008, 15. Available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf.
[38] Robert E. Rector, Kirk Johnson, Patrick F. Fagan, and Lauren Noyes, “Increasing Marriage Would Dramatically Reduce Child Poverty,” Center for Data Analysis Report #03-06, The Heritage Foundation: Washington, D.C. (20 May 2003).
[39] Catherine T. Kenney and Sara S. McLanahan, “Why Are Cohabiting Relationships More Violent than Marriages?” Demography 43 (2006): 133.
Jan Stets, “Cohabiting and Marital Aggression: The Role of Social Isolation,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 53, no. 3 (1991): 674. Galena Kline, et al., “Timing Is Everything: Pre-Engagement Cohabitation and Increased Risk for Poor Marital Outcomes,” Journal of Family Psychology 18, no. 2 (2004): 315.
[40] Todd Shackelford, “Cohabitation, Marriage, and Murder: Woman-Killing by Male Romantic Partners,” Aggressive Behavior 27 (2001): 285-286.
[41] Linda J. Waite and Maggie Gallagher, The Case For Marriage (New York: Doubleday, 2002).
[42] Edward O. Laumann, et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994). Also called the “Sex in America” survey, this study used data from the National Health and Social Life Survey, a stratified clustered sample of 3,432 individuals.
[43] Lois M. Verbrugge and Donald J. Balaben, “Patterns of Change in Disability and Well-Being,” Medical Care 27, no. 3 (1989): S142.
[44] Ingrid Waldron, Christopher C. Weiss, and Mary Elizabeth Hughes, “Marital Status Effects on Health: Are There Differences between Never Married Women and Divorced and Separated Women?” Social Science and Medicine 45, no. 9 (1997): 1392.
[45] Matthew E. Dupre and Sarah O. Meadows, “Disaggregating the Effects of Marital Trajectories on Health,” Journal of Family Issues 28 (2007): 639-640.
[46] R.G. Wood, B. Goesling, and S. Avellar, “The Effects of Marriage on Health: Synthesis of Current Research Evidence,” Contract # 233-02-0086. Washington, D.C.: ASPE, HHS (2007). Available at http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/07/marriageonhealth/index.htm.
Lauren Duberstein Lindberg and Susheela Singh “Sexual Behavior of Single Adult American Women,” Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 40, no. 1 (March 2008): 1.
[47] Howard S. Gordon and Gary E. Rosenthal, “Impact of Marital Status on Outcomes in Hospitalized Patients: Evidence from an Academic Medical Center,” Archives of Internal Medicine 155 (1995): 2467.
[48] Dario Maestripieri, “Between- and within-sex variation in hormonal responses to psychological stress in a large sample of college students,” Stress 13, no. 5 (2010): 413–442; Julianne Holt-Lunstad, “Is There Something Unique about Marriage? The Relative Impact of Marital Status, Relationship Quality, and Network Social Support on Ambulatory Blood Pressure and Mental Health,” Annals of Behavioral Medicine 35, no. 2 (2008): 239-244. As cited in Kathleen Blanchard, “Health & Marriage: Benefits for Men.” Available at http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/10/13/health-marriage-benefits-men/#ixzz1TDmcdmCc.
[49] Beth A. Hahn, “Marital Status and Women’s Health: The Effect of Economic Marital Acquisitions,” Journal of Marriage and Family 55 (1993): 502.
[50] James S. Goodwin, et al., “The Effect of Marital Status on Stage, Treatment, and Survival of Cancer Patients,” Journal of the American Medical Association 258 (1987): 3127-3128.
[51] James Goodwin, et al., “The Effect of Marital Status on Stage, Treatment, and Survival of Cancer Patients,” Journal of the American Medical Association 258 (1987): 3125-3130. As cited in Glenn T. Stanton, “Why Marriage Matters.” Available at http://www.ampartnership.org/resourcecenter/news/89-why-marriage-matters.html. Accessed February 28, 2017.
[52] Walter R. Gove, “Sex, Marital Status, and Mortality,” The American Journal of Sociology 79, no. 1 (1973): 54-57.
[53] A. Krongrad, et al., “Marriage and Mortality in Prostate Cancer,” Journal of Urology 156, no. 5 (November 1996): 1696-1670. As cited in Roger Dobson, “From cancer to heart disease, the amazing, life-saving benefits of marriage.” Available at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1049134/From-cancer-heart-disease-amazing-life-saving-benefits-marriage.html. Accessed February 28, 2017.
[54] Cynthia Osborne, et al., “The Influence of Marital Status on the Stage at Diagnosis, Treatment, and Survival of Older Women with Breast Cancer,” Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 93 (2005): 43-44.
[55] Vijay Chandra, et al., “The Impact of Marital Status on Survival after an Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Population-based Study,” American Journal of Epidemiology 117, no. 3 (1983): 322.
[56] David Williams, et al., “Marital Status and Psychiatric Disorders Among Blacks and Whites,” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 33 (1992): 140-157. As cited in Glenn T. Stanton, “Why Marriage Matters.” Available at http://www.ampartnership.org/resourcecenter/news/89-why-marriage-matters.html. Accessed February 28, 2017.
Benjamin Malzberg, “Marital Status in Relation to the Prevalence of Mental Disease,” Psychiatric Quarterly 10 (1936): 245-261; James Coyne, M.J. Rohrbaugh, Varda Shoham, John S. Sonnega, John M. Nicklas, and James A. Cranford, “Prognostic Importance of Marital Quality for Survival of Congestive Heart Failure”American Journal of Cardiology 88, no. 5 (2001): 526-529. As cited in California Healthy Marriages Coalition, “Healthy Marriages, Mental Health. Research on the Alignment of Marital Outcomes and Mental Health.” Available at http://camarriage.com/content/resources/7b8690b0-784f-46e7-af7d-438a9b064557.pdf. Accessed February 28, 2017.
[57] Steven Stack and J. Ross Eshleman.“Marital Status and Happiness: A 17-Nation Study,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 60 (1998): 527-536. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/243787428_Marital_Status_and_Happiness_A_17-Nation_Study. Accessed February 28, 2017.
[58] P.M. Prior and B.C. Hayes, “Marital Status and Bed Occupancy in Health and Social Care Facilities in the United Kingdom,” Public Health 115 (2001): 402. Lois M. Verbrugge, “Marital Status and Health,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 41, no. 2 (1979): 278.
[59] Randy Page and Galen Cole, “Demographic Predictors of Self-Reported Loneliness in Adults,” Psychological Reports 68 (1991): 939-945. As cited in Glenn T. Stanton, “Why Marriage Matters,” Available at http://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/gods-design-for-marriage/marriage-gods-idea/why-marriage-matters-for-adults. Accessed February 28, 2017.
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