Popular culture would have us believe that it is the young lady who is desperate to get married “before it’s too late”. This is an especially funny situation when you consider that most studies show that, overall, men benefit from marriage than women do. Both married men and women tend to outlive their single counterparts, but married men tend to gain more years than married women.

Women marrying later in life, or not at all, seems to carry less social stigma than in previous generations. Marriage is far from being a raw deal for women. Married women tend to be healthier than single or cohabiting women. They are less likely to be exposed to sexually transmitted diseases or sexual assault. Because they often take the nurturing role in the relationship, married women tend to take better care of their own health than women who have no one else to care for.

Better Than Single

Contrary to popular belief, married people generally have more and better sex than “swinging singles”. Married women are at a much lower risk of domestic violence in comparison to cohabiting women, and married women are much less likely to be the victims of violent crime in comparison to single or cohabiting women.

Individuals in marriage tend to do better financially and professionally than single earners. This may be because the environment of mutual support allows them to feel better taking the risks necessary to succeed in the business arena.

Married people are less likely to suffer from depression or schizophrenia than unmarried people. Again, this is likely to be a benefit of mutual support.

Happy Is As Happy Does

These benefits are all seen as a result of “happy” marriages. Although neither party particularly benefits from a dysfunctional relationship, women seem to pay a higher price, but not as high as the children in the relationship. Interestingly, while men tend to reap more health benefit from a stable and healthy marriage, they pay a higher cost when the marriage fails, both financially and emotionally.

Every marriage is an ongoing process. It requires effort and understanding from both parties in order to thrive. It has been said that the only way to really know someone is to live with them for forty years, at which point you will only begin to scratch the surface.

The journey is a lot more fun if you begin with a partner with whom you feel a closeness. The introduction services offered by Vital Partners cannot promise to provide the “spark” that we are all looking for, but our screening process makes it more likely to occur.