Sober, smokefree, happy - and fat - in wedded bliss

Marriage keeps people healthy, even though it can make men fat, US Government researchers have discovered.

Married people are less likely to smoke, drink heavily or be physically inactive, a report from the National Centre for Health Statistics shows.

They are less likely than single people, divorcees or widowed adults to be in fair or poor health, and they are less likely to suffer from headaches or serious psychological distress.

But the report finds that married men are more likely to be overweight or obese than other men.

"Never-married adults were among the least likely to be overweight or obese," the report says.

Health statistician Charlotte Schoenborn, who led the study, said more research was needed to understand why married men weighed more.

"One can speculate based on one's impression of humanity but we don't have any data to back it up," she said.

Differences in the amount married and unmarried people smoked were "quite remarkable".

 

"Married people are about half as likely to be smokers as those who are divorced or living with a partner."

The report from the health statistics centre - part of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta - was based on interviews with 127,545 American adults aged 18 and over.

It found that 58.2 per cent of them were married, 10.4 per cent were separated or divorced, 6.6 per cent were widowed, 19 per cent had never married and 5.7 per cent were living with a partner.

 

People living together but not married were more likely to have health problems than married adults, the survey found.

The report is in line with many other studies that show married people tend to be healthier than others.

Researchers have two main theories to explain this.

"Marriage protection is the theory that married people have more advantages in terms of economic resources, social and psychological support, and support for healthy lifestyles," the report says.

"Marital selection is the theory that healthier people get married and stay married, whereas less-healthy people either do not marry or are more likely to become separated, divorced or widowed."

Ms Schoenborn, who has been following American health statistics for more than 20 years, said she was interested to find out if the "marriage effect" on health had changed as society's view of single and divorced people changed.

"My personal impression is that marriage probably offers a level of stability."

- REUTERS