Marriage good, Children bad... for Mental Health

Saw it in Streats free-paper today, but not on their web site, so I have to type the whole thing :

Marriage helps Mental Health

Singles drink more, are more mentally distressed : study

Sydney - Singles are more likely to be psychologically disturbed and drink more alcohol than married people in the long term, according to a British study.

But being a heavy drinker while younger also made a person more likely to marry.

"It came as a bit of a surprise," Australian Noational University researcher Bryan Rodgers told a forum on mental health in Canberra on Monday.

"I suspect in younger people, drinking is linked to more social activities and it is probably how they get to meet their partners in the first place," he was quoted by The Australian newspaper as saying.

The study of more than 10,000 British people aged between 23 and 33 found higher levels of psychological disturbance and alcohol consumption among singles. The results also applied to those who are divorced or separated.

Once married, the drinkers tend to cut their drinking, said Dr. Rodgers. And those who remained single maintained their levels.

So over the long term, married people drank less than singles.

Having children, however, had a negative impact on women's mental health with separated and divorced mothers being more psychologically distressed than women who have been married at one time or another.

However, a recent study on co-habitation suggests that while marriage is good for men's mental health, live-in relationship is better for women's happiness.

A study of nearly 4,500 men and women in the UK revealed that men and women who stick with their first enduring relationship enjoy good mental health, New Scientist reported recently.

And where men recover from serial break-ups, women fare much worse, the same study showed.

In fact, women may be better off staying single than to have loved and lost, said Professor Michaela Benzeval of the University of London, who conducted the research. "The lack of protection of the financial and property rights, and hence the security of cohabiting couples when they separate may explain why women who cohabit have poorer mental health than women who marry," Prof Benzeval said.

She also said that single women who never married or moved in with a partner also showed good mental health, in contrast to single men.


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Wow ! I am single, and cohabiting. I should be psychologically disturbed.

In order to elevate my happiness and mental health, I should get married. I am feeling so sad now..

What about you ? Should you be happy ?