Research released by the U.S. National Centre for Health Statistics (NCHS) this week found unwed cohabiting men are the least likely to see a doctor for preventative health screenings and tests than men who live with a spouse or are single.
“Cohabiting men are a group particularly at risk of not receiving clinical preventive services recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force,” found the study.
Researchers collated recent medical data from three groups of 18 to 64-year-old men – married men living with a spouse, men who cohabit with a partner of either gender, and single men.
Overall, around 71 per cent of men recorded a trip to the doctor’s at least once in the last 12 months with 76 per cent of married men and 65 per cent of single men reporting a visit. But just 50 per cent of cohabiting men had undergone recommended cholesterol and diabetes screenings in the past year, the study found.
Researchers told CBS News the results – which were similar for both younger and older males – were surprising.
“That was completely unexpected, and I don’t have an explanation for it,” said the study’s lead author Stephen Blumberg, an associate director with the NCHS division of health interview statistics.
Blumberg said that the results could prompt partners to encourage healthier behaviour.
“[The study] does serve notice to the girlfriends and partners of these men that they could take a more active role in health care decisions and talk to them about getting healthy,” said Blumberg.
As for the effect of intimate relationships on female health, Linda Waite, a professor of urban sociology at the University of Chicago, said women seem less reliant on their partners to keep them on the path to wellbeing.
Single women, in particular, “have other sources of support they can turn to like their mother, sister or their friends. Men are less likely to have those sources of support,” Waite said.
In Australia marriage seems to enhance health also.
A study by Deakin University in 2012 tracked the impact of marriage on the wellbeing of Australians and found that married people exhibited the highest wellbeing – with the unexpected exception of newlyweds, whose wellbeing registered at the lower end of the normal range.
“This finding is believed to be largely due to the change in financial circumstances that accompanies marriage,” the study reported.
However, the news isn’t all bad for those without a ring on it. A European study found that an unhappy marriage can actually be the death of you.
Danish researchers tracked the work and health patterns of 10,000 men and women aged between 36 and 52 over 10 years and concluded that endless arguments with a spouse could triple the chances of a man going to an early grave.
The study found that six per cent of men and four per cent of women in hostile marriages died from causes including cancer, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, and suicide.
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