The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Relationships and Health 401

influences subsequent health. One such study

showed that persons who married over a six-

year period started out less depressed than

those who did not marry (Frech & Williams,

2007). Thus, psychological health predicted

marital status. However, those who married

benefited in terms of reduced psychological

distress six years later compared to those who

did not. Thus, there was a reciprocal relation

between marriage and health.

TAKE HOME POINTS

■ The benefits of marriage to health are stronger for men

than women.

■ There are a number of reasons for this: Marriage is a

greater source of emotional support, is more likely to

alleviate stress, and encourages better health behavior

for men than for women. In addition, men are more

satisfied with marriage compared to women, partly due

to the receipt of more social support resources.

■ The relation between marriage and health is bidirec-

tional. Healthier people are more likely to get married,

and married people have better health over time.

In addition, the traditional housewife

role lacks status, structure, and recogni-

tion because “accomplishments” often go

unnoticed (Gove & Tudor, 1973). Today,

however, women are more likely to take on

other roles besides housewife and are better

equipped to take care of themselves finan-

cially. Thus women’s and men’s roles are

now more similar in marriage. If the differ-

ence in roles is the explanation for why mar-

riage is more health beneficial for men, we

should see more similar effects of marriage

on women’s and men’s health in the future.

Selection Hypothesis. Ihavebeendis-

cussing ways in which marriage could influ-

ence health, but it also is possible that health

influences marriage. This is themarital selec-

tion hypothesis, the idea that healthier peo-

ple are “selected” into marriage. Individuals

tend to match in terms of health when they

marry (Wilson, 2002). To examine the mari-

tal selection hypothesis, a longitudinal study

must be conducted to determine whether

initial health influences subsequent mari-

tal status and whether initial marital status

0

20

30

10

50

40

60

80

90

70

Male Female

Likelihood Happy Marriage

(a)

0

10

20

30

25

15

5

40

35

45

Male Female

Likelihood Divorce

(b)

Self Other Self Other

FIGURE 11.4 (a) College students estimated that they would be more likely to have a happy

marriage than others, but the difference for males was greater than females. (b) College students

also estimated that they would be less likely to get divorced than others, but this difference was

greater for males than females.

Source: Adapted from Lin and Raghubir (2005).

M11_HELG0185_04_SE_C11.indd 401 6/21/11 12:43 PM