If you are currently married, divorced once or ten times, a career bachelor, or just contemplating marriage, this article might be of interest to you.

What is marriage? Marriage is the following:

1. The institution that legally, spiritually and culturally binds and recognizes man and woman as partners.
2. The most valued and beautiful of all human relationships and a fundamental social institution which is central to the nurture and raising of children.
3. It is the ‘social glue’ that reliably attaches fathers to children.
4. It contributes to the physical, emotional and economic health of men, women and children. A strong commitment to marriage is therefore fundamental to the health and stability of any home, community or nation.

What do Americans think about marriage? Studies indicate that having a happy marriage is one of the most important desires of Americans. However, more and more Americans are becoming less likely to marry or remain married. About 50% of American marriages end in divorce for multiple reasons, and some as vague as “irreconcilable differences”.

What are some general benefits of marriage? Health and family science researchers cite the following as benefits of marriage:

1. Marriage tends to improve the way people think about themselves, their spouse, others, and the future.
2. Husbands and wives are more likely to do unselfish things for each other and for their families than they would do if unmarried.
3. Individuals who are married are more responsible to their communities and the nation.
4. Individuals committed to one another in marriage can come home and find a place to understand each other deeply and redefine ways to fulfill their roles to themselves, their community and nation.

What are physical health benefits of Marriage:

1. Married people across cultures have better health than unmarried people.
2. Married individuals have lower rates of alcoholism than their unmarried counterparts because they tend to offer encouragement, support, and protection from daily problems that could otherwise lead them to using alcohol and other drugs.
3. Married men and women have lower suicide rates than unmarried ones because married people have meaningful social networks of friends and relatives. Meaningful relationships give people a sense of personal value and a feeling of responsibility to others.
4. Married individuals have less illness, accidents, and murder; they are less likely to die from all causes, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, car accidents, and murder.
5. Married individuals spend less time in hospitals and have higher recovery rates.
6. Married individuals tend to have stronger immune systems, making them less likely to catch colds and develop other illnesses than unmarried ones.

What are the emotional health benefits of marriage?

1. Married individuals have the lowest rates of depressions and schizophrenias compared to the unmarried.
2. They tend to handle stress and anxiety better than their unmarried counterparts.
3. Marriage tends to make individuals to be more motivated to do well at work and to persevere through stressful situations.
4. Married persons are less likely to be lonely because they always have someone to share their thoughts, feelings, and lives with.
5. Married persons are more likely to report feeling hopeful, happy, and good about themselves.
6. Married couples have sex more often and enjoy it more physically and emotionally than their unmarried counterparts.

What are economic benefits of marriage?

1. Married couples have higher incomes than single men and women.
2. As a marriage endures, couples have more obligations to each other and tend to be more financially responsible, and more likely to save money. Example: a husband who is skilled at repairing things can save a lot of money for the family; same applies to a wife who is skilled at managing money.

It is important to remember that when marriage partners pool their physical, emotional and economic resources together, the marriage, the family, the community and nation benefits.

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For online access to Extension/Community Health Column, please check “articles” on the web at: http://www.fcs.okstate.edu/health/.