Exploring the Relative Mental Health Benefits of Marriage by Race, Gender, and Social Class (2014)

Undergraduates: Alexis Duckett, Dr. Dawne Mouzon (Mentor)

Faculty Advisor: Dawne Mouzon
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

---

Biomedical and social science research largely finds that being married is associated with favorable physical and mental health outcomes. A number of causal mechanisms have been proposed to link marriage to better health, including greater economic resources, stricter adherence to healthy behaviors, higher levels of social integration and social support, more sexual satisfaction, and more purpose and meaning in life among married individuals. Unfortunately, most social science and health research treats the experience of marriage as similar across all population groups, failing to consider the structural and interpersonal factors that influence both marital status and health outcomes. The earliest work in this regard examined how gender shaped the relative mental health benefits of marriage, revealing that marriage improved the mental health of men but diminished that of women, though more recent work finds positive effects for both men and women. Despite the importance of this line of research, very few studies explore whether the marriage-mental health association is similar for Blacks and Whites, and even fewer explore other intersections such as socioeconomic status. We use secondary data from the 2002-2003 Study of Families and Relationships to explore these questions.