THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MARITAL HEALTH AND PHYSICAL WELL-BEING

The Relationship between Marital Health and Physical Well-Being

The Relationship between Marital Health and Physical Well-Being

Introduction:

Involving in social relationships tends to decrease mortality risks and it benefits the physical health. The relation between social relationship and health is as strong as the relation between blood pressure, obesity, smoking and health. Furthermore, the evidence that is available suggests that, among all the relationship that is studied, marital relationships have the strongest impact on health. As married people demonstrate better health than the unmarried people, it is not exactly the case when it comes to health benefits. The quality of a relationship is also linked to health. Among the married people, those who are in unhappy marriage have poor health than those that are in happy marriages. People having low-quality marriage show a greater risk of health than those who are divorced. (Burman, Gayla, 1992)

Majority of the studies have identified that marital disruption is a precursor for poor health but is usually not able to discount the potential selection effect of poor health that leads to marital disruption. The research evidence suggests that the quality of marriage is related to health. Indeed, people who are dissatisfied with their marriages are likely to experience poorer physical and mental health than the unmarried. Moreover, some studies show that marital quality benefits men's health more than women's; other research shows the reverse. This mixture of findings may result from several factors, including the use of different measures of marital satisfaction and the unique characteristics of a specific sample (e.g., longer- or shorter-term marriages). The husbands and wives in the study had invested substantially in their respective marital roles, as indicated by their living together for a considerable period (almost 20 years on average). If one were to use time and energy invested in a role to define commitment, we would conclude that all of these husbands and wives had demonstrated relatively high commitment to their marriages. A subjective measure of marital commitment also reflected high average commitment and little variation across respondents. Thus the research hypothesized that marital satisfaction would have a beneficial influence on perceived physical health for both husbands and wives. Given the low degree of variation in commitment, study did not expect (nor did we test for) a marital commitment by marital-satisfaction interaction effect.

The relationship between health and marriage is very complex. Marriages can be affected by health. And once married, it can affect the physical and mental health as well. People who are healthy might have a better chance of getting married. Healthier people are more likely of staying married because they are considered being more desirable partners based on their earning potentials, self-sufficiency, longevity, and physical attractiveness, mental and physical well-being. Scientists explain it as selection pattern of healthy people into marriages. If this is particularly the only explanation for the relation between the health and marriage then, marriages do not cause good health. Rather, the observation of having health differences between unmarried and married ...