Individuals Who Never Marry 2x as Likely to Die Prematurely

Marriage may hold the key to living a long life, says one study.

The study evaluated information coming out of the University of North Carolina Alumni Heart Study.

Looking at responses from 4,802 individuals, researchers found being married correlated directly with surviving until old age.

Specifically, the study noted being married during midlife correlated with a lowered risk of premature death.

“Individuals who either never married or who lost a spouse

and never remarried were twice as likely to die prematurely.”

According to the data, individuals who either never married or who lost a spouse and never remarried were twice as likely to die prematurely than those individuals who maintained a stable marriage or permanent relationship throughout their entire adult life.

However, researcher Dr. Ilene Siegler notes it’s too early to connect a long life specifically to marriage, noting marriage may do nothing more than offer social support for individuals – support that may be acquired through other forms of interpersonal relationships:

“These patterns appear to provide different levels of emotional and functional social support, which has been shown to be related to mortality. Social ties during midlife are important to help us understand premature mortality.”

Source: Annals of Behavioral Medicine.