Both men and women benefit from marriage, but men seem to benefit more overall. In addition to being happier and healthier than bachelors, married men earn more money and live longer.
Marriage has long been flouted as a health booster to couples, with those who tie the knot more likely to live longer and have fewer emotional problems. But a happiness expert has now suggested that it's men, rather than women, who benefit most from walking down the aisle.
Married men are more likely to receive regular checkups and medical care, maintain healthy diets, exercise, and enjoy higher standards of living. In addition, married men benefit from lower levels of stress and fewer stress-related diseases. They also receive better care during times of illness.
Answer: Marriage matters to men because it provides structure to their lives and organizes their goals and ambitions. They become responsible in social, economic, physical, and family requirements.
According to recent scientific studies, men who never get married may gain strength from solitude. They have more extensive social networks and a deeper connection to work. They're also differently vulnerable to some of life's travails. Here are a few facts to consider.
Men who have marital partners also live longer than men without spouses; men who marry after age 25 get more protection than those who tie the knot at a younger age, and the longer a man stays married, the greater his survival advantage over his unmarried peers.
Hu found that reported happiness was higher overall among married people than unmarried people. By gender, 56.2 percent of married men said they were “very happy,” compared with only 39.4 percent of unmarried men who said so. Among women, the figure dropped to 44.9 percent and 35.4 percent respectively.
Most of the men become less caring and less romantic after marriage. They may no longer feel the need to impress their wives, this can be so because once they obtain a marital contract, they feel secure that their wives can't go away and she has to deal with their shortcomings and all.
Being single has a handful of benefits, scientific research has found. Studies suggest that single people tend to have stronger social networks and develop more as individuals. They even tend to be physically fitter.
One study published in PLOS One found that women considered coupled men more attractive and spent significantly more time looking at pictures of potential suitors when they were depicted as married or in a relationship.
The study, involving middle-aged women over a 13-year period, finds that women in good marriages were less likely to develop risk factors that lead to cardiovascular diseases compared with other middle-aged women.
Married women had a death rate of 569 per 100,000, two-and-a-half times lower than the 1,482 rate for widows. The death rate was 1,096 for divorcees and 1,166 for never-married women.
According to a recent article, men actually become richer after getting divorced. One study published by the Institute for Social and Economic Research found that men “rise immediately and continuously” as the years go by after their divorce.
Research has suggested that women express emotions more frequently than men on average. Multiple researchers have found that women cry more frequently, and for longer durations than men at similar ages. The gender differences appear to peak in the most fertile years.
A study led by the American Sociological Association determined that nearly 70% of divorces are initiated by women. And the percentage of college-educated American women who initiated divorce is even higher.
Some studies have found that women are more trustworthy than men (Croson and Buchan 1999; Chaudhuri and Gangadharan 2007; Schwieren and Sutter 2008). However, Bellemare and Kroger (2007) find men to be more trustworthy than women and Eckel and Wilson (2004b) find no gender differences in trustworthiness.
Sometimes, relationship reluctance is indeed due to a past betrayal or broken heart. Other times, however, it is simply due to personal preference. According to research, for self-assured men, in particular, singlehood signals success and satisfaction.
A 2022 study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science found that coupled people tend to be, on average, happier than those who are single, but “that effect is not as large as people make it out to be because there's actually a lot of variability,” lead author Yuthika Girme, an associate ...
Single people's values and ways of living pay off for them. They get more happiness out of their social lives, their individualistic values, their satisfaction with their jobs, their interest in making their own decisions, their positive self-perceptions and confidence, and their sense of being valued and accomplished.
Toxic relationships, being used, feeling emotionally spent, or meeting someone new could also contribute to what makes a man leave his wife. A wife left behind may be wondering what happened to her once happy relationship. Going to couples counseling and communicating with her husband may help save the marriage.
Gender Gap in Remarriage
Among those eligible to remarry—adults whose first marriage ended in divorce or widowhood—men are much more likely than women to have taken the plunge again.
She's found that men pull away because of stress, exhaustion, depression, or focusing on any other responsibility besides the relationship. What might have started as hostility is now just resignation. “You can teach yourself not to care,” she says. “We're just not trying anymore.”
Fear of being changed
Some men fear that their partners will try to change them after they get married. This is especially relevant in cases where the female partner has already subtly applied pressure to change earlier in the relationship.
New research suggests single individuals are, in general, satisfied with both singlehood and life. People with lower singlehood satisfaction are more likely to be men, older, more educated, or in worse health.