Marriage - God's Plan: Part 2

 

Welcome back to my blog.

 

Few topics are as important to our lives as marriage. However, this long-standing institution has been under attack in our culture for the past few generations! Is marriage, as traditionally defined as a legal union between a man and a woman, worth preserving for society? Is there an advantage to this form of union to individuals’ mental and physical health, and to society in general? Numerous studies have shown the benefit of traditional marriage on personal and mental wellbeing, health, and finances (1-8).

 

In my last blog (https://teleiosresearch.com/blog-marriage-gods-plan/) we discussed that marriage’s primary purpose in the Bible is a tool for spreading the gospel and related this relationship to Christ and His bride the church. This time let us discuss the research that backs the great value marriage conveys to its participants and society.

 

Teleios recently reviewed published studies in the medical literature which evaluated the benefits and disadvantages of legally binding, heterosexual marriage (https://teleiosresearch.com/benefit-of-marriage/). We went back as far as 1966!

 

The analysis showed overwhelming benefits of traditional marriage on general wellbeing and specific parameters that might affect wellbeing, including:

• Physical and mental health
• Sexual satisfaction
• Family income
• Children’s outcomes

 

Of the 42 articles evaluated, only 3 did not describe any marriage benefits. Even more, the stronger the relationship commitment, the greater trend of enhanced wellbeing. Never married, widowed, and divorced individuals suffered the lowest wellbeing.

 

Interestingly, individuals in a committed relationship, even unmarried, generally had improved elements of wellbeing compared to those uncommitted. But marriage relationships, which typically demonstrate the strongest legal and outward social commitment to a relationship, generally had the highest wellbeing of all relationships. Further, some evidence in diseased and depressed individuals indicated that the better quality of the marriage relationship, the better the wellbeing-related outcome (Please see Figure 1).

 

A Gallup polling found similar findings (Table 1; 9).

 

How to explain these results? We speculate on several reasons.

• A committed partner helping with income, household tasks, and raising children can lessen the burden compared to a single parent.
• Socialization with a marriage partner provides a potential source of personal enrichment, encouragement, and empathy.
• The more committed the relationship, the greater confidence spouses can have in each other thus conserving time, money and emotion required to correct problems in their relationship.
• Marriage partners can help maintain good health by encouraging each other to keep medical appointments, take medicines and develop a healthy lifestyle.
• The marriage commitment may facilitate sexual satisfaction by building confidence that no competing love interest is diverting the attention of the spouse.

 

Why would a committed marital relationship have a positive impact on children and the community? Again, several potential explanations are:

• A couple can help each other provide time and income to better raise children and serve the community.
• Satisfied couples who are not dealing with internal problems can more easily look outwards to helping their children and community.
• Committed couples who agree together how to raise their children can provide a more consistent, productive, secure, and supportive home environment.

 

Our review suggested that traditional marriage generally provides numerous benefits to the relationship partners through enhanced measures of mental and physical wellbeing, and benefits to their children compared to other heterosexual partnership arrangements or single status.

 

Wow, traditional man-woman marriage is a precious institution, so beneficial for the partners and for society. God is so wise! 

 

Read similar topics:

https://teleiosresearch.com/bible-marriage/

https://teleiosresearch.com/dating-habits-of-young-christians/

https://teleiosresearch.com/effect-early-sexual-activity-mental-health/

 

Join us next time as we continue to discuss our Christian life and service to God.

 

William C. Stewart, MD

 

1. Horwitz AV (1996). Becoming married and mental health: A longitudinal study of a cohort of young adults. J Marriage Family, 58:895-907.
2. Marks NF, Lambert JD (1998). Marital status continuity and change among young and midlife adults longitudinal effects on psychological wellbeing. J Family Issues, 19:652-686.
3. Kamp Dush CM (2013). Marital and cohabitation dissolution and parental depressive symptoms in fragile families. J Marriage Family, 75:91-109.
4. Meadows SO (2009). Family structure and fathers’ wellbeing: trajectories of mental health and self-rated health. J Health Social Behavior, 50:115-131.
5. Abern M (2014). Marital status independently predicts testis cancer survival—an analysis of the SEER database. Urologic Oncology, 30:487-493.
6. Barbash I, Gaglia MA, Torguson R, Minha S, Satler LF, Pichard AD, Waksman R (2013). Effect of marital status on the outcome of patients undergoing elective or urgent coronary revascularization. Am Heart J, 166:729-736.
7. Hahn BA (1993). Marital status and women’s health: The effect of economic marital acquisitions. J Marriage Family, 55:495-504.
8. Killewald, A, & Gough, M. (2013). Does specialization explain marriage penalties and premiums? Am Sociological Review, 78:477-502.
9. https://news.gallup.com/poll/154001/separation-divorce-linked-sharply-lower-wellbeing.aspx

 

For questions or to view more of our research…

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