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Is marriage more beneficial to men than women?


A decade or two ago, a marriage certificate was akin to a status symbol. Getting married was the ultimate dream for many women and many endured abusive relationships just to keep the wife tag.

In some parts of the world, married women are still held in high regard. Marriage is generally assumed to have physical as well as psychological benefits. People imagine that a man’s health improves because of the homemade food and the constant encouragement from the wife to stay in shape.

Women, on the other hand, are imagined to benefit emotionally because they value being married. It will then be a bit disheartening to learn that marriage, is hardly beneficial to the woman.

Research conducted by University College London, the London School of Economics, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that unmarried men suffer more negative health effects than single women.

The study was based on analysis of data from 10,000 people all born in the same week.

The researchers found that all the single men had had more breathing problems than the single women.

GOOD HEALTH

The researchers also observed that the likelihood of heart problems was up to 14 per cent higher in the unmarried men in comparison to the single women.

While married men had good health, married women hardly showed any benefits. In fact, married women were found to have the same probability of developing a mix of diabetes, hypertension and obesity as their unmarried counterparts.

Getting divorced was not found to have any significant effects on the health of either men or women as long as one quickly found another suitable match.

Men, though, were found not to deal with divorce very well. For the initial weeks and months following a divorce, the men recorded a decline in their health. With time though, they went back to their pre-divorce health.

Past studies have showed that married people are likely to live longer and that marital bliss also comes with emotional stability.

The researchers however maintain that these findings do not mean that marriage is irrelevant.

They noted that in addition to the good health on the part of the man, marriage affirms the commitment between two people and married parents are more likely to stay together.