A happy marriage is good for your health

A happy marriage is good for your health, doctors have confirmed. A new study shows that people who marry are much more likely to live longer than those who never tie the knot.

The findings come amid a backdrop of research which shows that married couples tend to enjoy healthier and happier lives than single people.

Previous studies have suggested that a solid marriage can add up to five years to a person's life.

According to the latest research carried out in America, a stable and surviving marriage is strongly associated with a longer life expectancy.

In contrast, those who go through life without ever marrying have a far greater chance of dying young.

Those who are widowed, divorced or separated are also more prone to an early grave.

Doctors from the University of California say men who never marry are more vulnerable than women who remain single throughout their life.

And bachelors between the ages of 19 and 44 are more than twice as likely to die than their married male peers of the same age.

Professor Robert Kaplan, who led the study, said: "A variety of studies have shown that unmarried adults have a higher probability of early death than those that are married.

"Accumulated evidence suggests that social isolation increases the risk of premature death."

The findings are based on national census and death certificates of nearly 67,000 adults in the USA between 1989 and 1997.

In 1989, almost one in two of the sample were married, and almost one in 10 were widowed.

About 12 percent were divorced and three percent were separated.

Of the remainder, five percent were cohabiting, and one in five had never been married.

Unsurprisingly, old age and poor health were the main causes of death during the eight-year period, but a surviving marriage was also strongly associated with a longer life.

After taking into account age, state of health, and several other factors likely to influence the findings, those who had been widowed were almost 40 per cent more likely to die between 1989 and 1997.

Those who had been divorced or separated were 27 percent more likely to have done so.

But those who had never been married were 58 percent more likely to have died during this period than their peers who were married and still living with their spouse in 1989.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found that for the younger age group, the main causes of death among those who had never married were infectious disease such as HIV.

Among the middle aged and elderly, the main causes were heart diseases and long-term illnesses.

Researchers say that people who marry have the advantage of being "socially connected", and suggest that never marrying may be associated with more severe isolation.

Prof Kaplan added: "Our study raises a series of new questions.

"Firstly, we found that having never been married is a better predictor of poor health outcomes than either divorce or widowhood.

"And secondly, the impact of social isolation is not constrained to the elderly."