In 1858 , British epidemiologist named William Farr set out to study what is called the " conjugal condition " of the French people . He divided the adult population into three distinct categories : " married , " consisting of husband and wife , the " celibate , " defined as the bachelors and spinsters who had never married , and finally the " widowed , " those who have experienced the death of pair . Using birth , death and marriage records , Farr analyzed the relative mortality rates of all three groups at various ages . The work, a groundbreaking study that helped establish the field of medical statistics , showed that the unmarried died from disease " in excessive proportion " to their married counterparts . And widowed , Farr found , fared worst of all .
Farr was among the first works of science shows that there are health benefits to marriage and to identify marital loss as a significant risk factor for poor health . Married people , the data seem to indicate , to live longer , healthier lives . " Marriage is a healthy estate , " Farr concluded . " One individual is more likely damaged in the journey than the lives joined together in matrimony . "
While Farr study itself is no longer relevant to the social reality of the world today - three categories exclude couples living together , gay couples and divorced , for example - his comprehensive findings on the health benefits of marriage seems to have stood the test of time . Criticism , of course, have rightly cautioned about the risk of conflating correlation with causation . ( Better health among the married sometimes simply reflects the fact that healthier people are more likely to get married in the first place . ) But in the 150 years since Farr work , scientists continue to document the " marriage advantage " : the fact that a married person , the average average , looks healthier and live longer than unmarried people .
Contemporary studies , for example , have shown that married people are less likely to get pneumonia , have surgery , develop cancer or having a heart attack . A group of Swedish researchers have found that being married or living together in middle age is associated with a lower risk for dementia . A study of two dozen causes of death in the Netherlands found that in almost every category , ranging from violent deaths like homicide and car accidents to certain forms of cancer , the unmarried were at far higher risk than married . Over the years , studies such as these have affected both politics and policy , encouraging efforts - national promotion wedding , such as Healthy Marriage Initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services . From 2006 to 2010 , the program received $ 150 million per year to spend on projects like " divorce reduction " efforts and often cited the health benefits of getting married and staying married .
But while it is clear that marriage is deeply related to health and well-being , new research increasingly presenting a more nuanced view of the so-called marriage advantage . Several recent studies , for example , showed that the marriage advantage does not include people in troubled relationships , which can leave a person far more healthy than if he had never been married. One recent study suggests that a stressful marriage can be bad for the heart as a regular smoking habit . And despite years of research showed that single people have poorer health than those who were married , a study released last year concluded that single people who have never married have better health than those who were married and later divorced .
All of which suggests that while Farr exploration into the conjugal condition pointed us in the right direction , to overestimate the importance of the institution of marriage and underestimated the quality and character of the wedding itself . The fact of marriage , it seems , is not enough to protect the health of your . Even the Healthy Marriage Initiative makes a distinction between " healthy " and the relationship " unhealthy " when discussing the benefits of marriage . " When we divide good marriages from bad , " says marriage historian Stephanie Coontz , who is also director of research and public education for the Council on Contemporary Families , "we learn that it is the relationship , not the institution , that is key . "
Some of the most exciting research today about the relationship between marriage and health is led by a pair of researchers at Ohio State University College of Medicine . Duo , Ronald Glaser and Jan - Kiecolt Glaser , also , fittingly, married to each other .
Glaser and Kiecolt - Glaser scientific collaboration has its roots in a chance encounter during faculty picnic in October 1978 on the campus of Ohio State . Glaser , a viral immunologist , see an attractive woman standing with psychiatric faculty members . Although their eyes met only briefly , he caught a glimpse of her name tag . Intrigued , he tried to track him down , calling the psychiatry department chairman to ask if he knew little blonde on staff with names like " Pam Kiscoli . " Chairman of the Department know that Glaser was talking about a new assistant professor named January Kiecolt . Glaser and Kiecolt eventually met in the cafeteria during the university hospital . They married a year later , in January 1980.
This coupling produces more than romance . Both scientists are fascinated by the work of each other , they often discussed over meals or while jogging together . Glaser suggested that they collaborate professionally , but finding common ground is a challenge : he studied virology and immunology , he is a clinical psychologist who focused on assertiveness and other behavior . In the early 1980s , however , Kiecolt Glaser - find a book in the emerging field of psychoneuroimmunology involving interplay between behavioral , endocrine and immune systems , and brain and nervous system . Couples who are interested in science which is located at the intersection of their disciplines . Today, the two do not agree on how their professional collaboration began . " He said I started , " said Kiecolt - Glaser me . " But I told him to start . "
In their first research collaboration , they are trying to measure the effect of psychological stress on the immune system . Although previous studies have established that trauma and other major stress - like the death of a loved one or prolonged sleep deprivation - weakened immune system , which Glasers wanted to know whether the smaller form of stress , such as that associated with the workplace or graduate school , has the same effect .
The Glasers , who worked at the Ohio State medical school , have ready access to an ample supply of stressed - out students , so they decided to study the toll demanded by school pressure . They took blood samples from a set of students at the beginning of the semester and then do it again in the middle of final exams . The Glasers found that the stress of exam time seems to lead to a significant weakening of the immune responses of students : at the time of examination , the medical students showed a significant reduction in so-called natural killer cells , a type of white blood cells that fight viruses and helps prevent cancer .
For their second collaboration , Glasers turned their attention to domestic disputes . They wonder about the role that relationships play in the health of the impact of marital stress , which , like the pressure of school , can be a source of nontraumatic but chronic tension . In what was to be the first of many of their studies on marriage and health , the Glasers recruited 76 women , half of them were married , while the other half were separated or divorced . The Glasers wanted to identify married women are in a troubled relationship , and which of the women who divorced from their husbands emotionally struggling the most . They do this by using marital quality scales , types of questionnaires that ask couples to indicate agreement or disagreement with statements such as " If I had to do it again , I would marry the same person " or " We often do things together . " Furthermore , by using the test blood , measuring the immune response system Glasers women , tracking the level of antibody production and other indicators of immunity strength . The results showed that women in happy relationships and women who remained emotionally hung up on their ex- husbands have clearly weaker immune response than women in unhappy relationships ( or were happily out of them ) .
Although pleased with this study , Glasers know that they have managed to take the measure marital happiness and health only at the moment . Couples are also curious to study the effect of marital stress like opening in real time. What happens to the body minute by minute , hour to hour , when couples engage in hostile marital disputes ? To find this out , they recruited a group study of 90 newlywed couples look happy . Each pair is connected to the tube so that blood samples could be drawn from regular partner , and husband and wife sit down face to face . Obscured by a curtain , the researchers observed couples on video monitors , nurses take blood samples . The participants , because they have been asked to do so , discuss topics most volatile marital conflict , such as household , sex , or interference from the mother -in-law . " You would not think in a learning situation that they will tear each other , " said Glaser , who is now the director of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research , me . " But they got into it . " As expected , the pair showed the most negative behaviors , and belligerent during the conflict discussion showed the largest declines in immune system function during the study period 24 - hours .
These data strongly suggest that marital stress can affect the body by striking , but the Glaser team has yet to prove that marital conflict has the effect of really meaningful or lasting health . Kiecolt - Glaser got an idea for another study that will meet these higher standards . He had read about a strange tool used by her dermatology colleagues : a small plastic suction device designed to leave eight tiny blisters on his arms and allow monitoring of the immune system response in the wound site . Proposal Kiecolt - Glaser is to use this device to measure how fast blistering or slow physical wounds healed among married couples who have undergone various levels of marital stress .
Experiment had two phases . Every married couple , after they were subjected to arms blistering procedure , were asked to talk together for half an hour : on one occasion they discussed topics selected to obtain the support of partner behavior ' , on another day , after undergoing the blistering procedures again , they discussed topics selected to evoke conflict and tension and try to overcome them . Before subjecting another to blistering regimen , each Glasers have secured device for each of his arms to have his skin to blister . This sensation is comparable to " someone gently pinching your arm , " said Kiecolt - Glaser me . Nonetheless , Glasers knew it would be a tough sell to convince others couples to undergo the blistering procedure as well as two weeks of subsequent monitoring of their wounds healed . Research grants enabling them to offer $ 2,000 in total compensation for each partner is willing to take part in the experiment . They managed to recruit 42 married couples for the study .
The results are remarkable . After a blistering sessions in which couples argued , their wounds took , on average , a full day longer to heal than after the sessions in which couples discussed something pleasant . Among couples who showed high levels of hostility , especially during a fight , wounds took a full two days longer to heal than couples who had showed less animosity while fighting .
Published in 2005 in The Archives of General Psychiatry , the findings Glasers ' help explain epidemiological data showing that couples in troubled marriages seem to be more susceptible to illness than happier couples . Results may also have practical relevance for surgical patients , for example , waiting for the incision to heal . But most important , this study offers strong evidence that a hostile fight with your husband or wife is not only bad for your relationship. This can have a profound toll on your body .
Kiecolt - Glaser said that the overall health lesson to take away from the new wave of literary marriage - and - health is that couples should first work to repair a troubled relationship and learn to fight without hostility and derision . But if staying married means living amid constant acrimony , from the point of view of your health , " you're better than that , " he said .
Last year , The Journal of Health and Social Behavior published a study tracking the marital history and health of nearly 9,000 men and women ages 50's and 60's . The study, which grew out of work by researchers at the University of Chicago , found that when people get married to single again - either by divorce or the death of a spouse - they suffered a decline in their physical health never fully recovered . Men and women had 20 percent more chronic health problems , such as heart disease and diabetes , compared to those who are still married to their first husband or wife by middle age . The divorced and widowed also aged less gracefully , reporting more problems going up and down stairs or walking longer distances .
Perhaps the most striking finding concerned single people who have never been married. For more than 100 years , scientists have speculated that a single person , because they generally have fewer resources , lower income and perhaps less logistical support and emotional , have poorer health than the married . But the Chicago study , people who have been divorced or widowed had worse health problems than men and women who have been single their entire lives . In individuals previously married , it was as if the marriage advantage had never existed.
Married again does not benefit those who divorce , in terms of health ? In the Chicago study , remarriage helped only a little . It seems to heal emotional wounds : the remarried had about the same risk for depression as continue to marry . But the second marriage does not seem to be enough to repair the physical damage associated with marital loss . Compared to continue to get married , people in second marriages still had 12 percent more chronic health problems and 19 percent more mobility problems . " I do not think people will encourage people to stay in a marriage that really makes them miserable , " said Linda J. Waite , a sociologist at the University of Chicago and author of the study . " But to try harder to be better . " Even if marital problems seem small , Waite said , the data suggest it is prudent for early intervention and try to overcome them . " If you learn to how to manage disagreement early , " he said , " then you can avoid the drop in marital happiness that follows from the drip , drip negative interactions . "
Other researchers have also studied how the " drip , drip " negative can erode not only the marriage itself but also the physical health of spouse . Several epidemiological studies suggest that unhappily married couples are at higher risk for heart attacks and cardiovascular disease than happily married couples . In 2000 , The Journal of the American Medical Association published a three -year study of 300 Swedish women who had been hospitalized with severe chest pain or heart attack , the study found that those who reported the highest levels of marital stress is almost three times as likely to suffer a heart attack or require bypass or other procedures . It should be noted that this increased risk was not associated with other forms of stress . For example , women who are stressed - out at work is not any higher risk for a second episode of heart problems than women who are happy in their work .
Of course , all couples - happy or unhappy - is bound to experience some form of marital conflict . This certainly does not mean that everyone is destined to get sick , some conflicts are better than others . The University of Utah psychology professor Timothy W. Smith has answered these questions , learn how what he calls " emotional tone " conflict affects heart risks . In one study , he recruited 150 couples , most of whom are in their 60s and married for an average of 36 years . All were in good general health with no signs of heart disease . Smith collects video footage of the couple discussing topics such as stress management money or household chores . The argument then " code " to indicate the amount of warm , statement hostile and controlling and the words used in the dispute process . Moreover, the pair is placed in the heart of the machine - scanning to measure coronary calcium levels , which is a useful indicator of heart disease risk . Smith later than conflict styles every person with their coronary calcium score .
Smith results indicate that there are important differences between men and women when it comes to health , and styles of conflict that can harm it . Women in the study were at highest risk for signs of heart disease are those who do not have the marriage battle no signs of warmth , even a stray term affection for hostile discussion ( "Honey , you're driving me crazy " ) or a light pat on the back or squeeze of the hand , all of which can signal affection in the midst of anger . " Most of the literature assumes that it was how bad the arguments get that drives the effect , but it's actually the lack of affection do it ," Smith told me . " It's not how much nasty talk there . 's Is the lack of warmth that predicted risk . "
For men , on the other hand , hostile and negative marital battles seemed to have no effect on heart risk . Men who are at risk for coronary calcium score is higher , however , when their marriage squabble turns into a battle for control . No matter whether it is the husband or wife who is trying to get control of this problem , it only controls the appearance of any language that put men on the way heart disease .
In both cases , the emotional tone of marital fight turned into such a poor predictor of heart health if people smoke or have high cholesterol . It should be noted that Smith's partner in the study were all relatively happy . This is a husband and wife who love each other . But many of them have developed a style conflict which takes a physical toll on each other . Solution , Smith noted , is not to stop fighting . It's to fight more serious . " Difficulties in marriage seem almost universal , " he said . " Just try not to let the fight will be no nastier than they need . "
Researchers also began researching the beneficial health effects of social relationships , including those of a good marriage . In one recent study , James A. Coan , an assistant professor of psychology and a neuroscientist at the University of Virginia , recruited 16 women who scored relatively high on a questionnaire assessing marital happiness . He put every woman in three different situations while monitoring her brain with an fMRI machine , which offers a way to observe the response of the brain to almost all kinds of emotional stimuli . In one situation , to simulate stress , he charged her for a mild electric shock . In a second , the shock was given , but she held the hands of foreigners , in a third , husband's hand .
The second example holding hands reduces neural activity in brain regions associated with stress women . But when a woman holding her husband's hand , the effect is even more , and especially pronounced in women who had the highest score marriage - happiness . Husband holding hands during zapping produce calming brain regions associated with pain similar to the effect caused by the use of pain medication - pain .
Coan says the study simulates how supportive marriage and partnership gives the brain the opportunity to outsource some of the most difficult neural work . " When someone holds your hand in a study or just shows that they are to you by giving you a back rub , when you are in their presence , which is a signal that you do not have to regulate negative emotions , " he said . " The others are basically set up your negative emotions , but without your prefrontal cortex . 's A lot less wear and tear on us if we have someone there to help organize us . "
With so much evidence to establish the relationship between marital stress and health , a new generation of research is set to explore the ways in which couples can reduce the damaging effects of stress relationships . The Glasers now conducting research to test whether regular fish oil supplements , rich in omega - 3 fatty acids , can reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress on the immune system .
The pair also started a new study to see the interplay between nutrition and marital stress . Previous research at the Ohio State study showed that when subjects were given intravenous injections of fat during times of stress , it took a long time to triglycerides , fats associated with heart disease , to leave the bloodstream . But Kiecolt - Glaser is more interested in the real-world equivalent research : What happens to the body's ability to cope with fats when couples fight at dinner ? To find out , he plans to feed married couples two types of meals - one relatively healthy diet and a high-fat meal equivalent of fast food . During the meal the couple will be asked to discuss the topic of high stress , and blood analysis will give you a glimpse of the effect that mealtime conflict at the body's ability to metabolize fat . " This is an ideal way , " said Kiecolt - Glaser , " to see what happened to the couple in the real world , where so many family conflicts occurred during the meal . "
For Glasers , their nearly 30 years of professional collaboration not only gives them new insights into the role of stress and health , but also helps them in their own marriage . Like every married couple , they have their disagreements , Glaser told me. But years of watching married couples interact and measure the subsequent physical toll that the conflict took their bodies Glasers have taught the importance of taking time off together and make sure they do not turn disagreements into personal attacks . " Do not fight dirty , " he advised . " You never go far enough down the road where you hurt each other . We know enough to avoid the kind of argument . "
Kiecolt - Glaser added that the couple's research suggests that some level of relationship stress can not be avoided , even in a happy marriage . The important thing , he says , is to use moments of stress as an opportunity to improve relations rather than destroying it . " It can be very uncomfortable , even in the best marriages , had an ongoing dispute , " he said . " It's in the pits - you - that kind of stomach . But when your marriage relationship is an important relationship in your life , really disputes signal to try to fix something . "
Tara Parker - Pope is the Well columnist for The New York Times and author of " For Better : The Science of a Good Marriage , " which will be published next month .
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