information for practice

Marriage has become an increasingly important topic in academic and policy research. A burgeoning literature suggests that marriage has a wide range of benefits, including improvements in individuals’ economic well-being and mental and physical health, as well as the well-being of their children (Lerman 2002; Ross et al. 1990; Waite and Gallagher 2000; Wilson and Oswald 2005). Inspired, in part, by these potential benefits of marriage, several large-scale federal initiatives have been launched in recent years that aim to encourage and support marriage. This synthesis focuses on recent research evidence concerning one of these potential benefits of marriage—the effects of marriage on health. In general, married people are healthier than those who are not married across a wide array of health outcomes (Schoenborn 2004). The existence of an association between marriage and health does not necessarily imply that marriage causes better outcomes, however. In particular, people who marry may already be healthier than those who do not, and this may be the reason for the better health of married adults. An examination of the relevance of these patterns for public policy must include careful consideration of whether the association between marital status and various health measures indicates that getting and staying married actually improves health.