London - Next time you have an argument with your partner, be aware that it could be harming your health.
Happier marriages make for healthier spouses, according to a new 20-year-long scientific study.
Researchers compared the up sides and down sides of healthy and troubled marriages.
It means that marriage-building activities such as regular date nights could improve an ailing patient’s health.
The study, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, observed how the marital happiness of 1 681 people over two decades affected their physical health.
The Montreal Gazette reports that the study was led by Brigham Young University's Richard Miller. Cody Hollist, co-author and marriage and family expert, and two other researchers used data that Penn State collected across the US from 1980 to 2000. Penn State researchers, led by Alan Booth, conducted detailed surveys which included more than 5 000 variables. Though the initial research included more than 2 000 participants, Hollist's team was only interested in those that stayed married to one person throughout the two decades.
Those polled answered 11 questions asking them how happy they were with various aspects of their relationship.
It delved into factors such as whether their spouse understood them, did activities with them, and provided them with love and affection.
The volunteers were also asked 13 questions about how they dealt with issues like jealousy, anger and infidelity.
Meanwhile, their health was ranked as excellent, good, fair or poor.
Co-author Dr Cody Hollist, a marriage and family therapy expert at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the US, said happiness and health go hand in hand.
He said: “There is no way to tease out whether good marriages lead to good health or whether bad marriages make you sick.
“But it is clear that marital quality and health run in tandem.”
In order to study the health effect of ageing, the researchers broke the group into those aged 18 to 39 and those aged 40 to 55.
There were some differences between the groups as the younger group tended to have better health but more marital problems.
However, the overwhelming correlation between happy marriage and good health for both groups made the researchers draw their conclusions.
Hollist said: “As health worsens, do marriages stay stable? What we found is that there’s a relationship between health and happiness for both age groups. If their health is good, their happiness is up.”
However, one surprising finding did emerge as those who began the study in troubled marriages reported improved health over time.
Offering a possible explanation, Hollist said those people were resilient in the face of adversity.
He said: “Stressful circumstances can be a wake-up call for some as it can motivate healthier and more adaptive pathways of behaviour over time.” – Daily Mail