Is There Something Unique about Marriage? The Relative Impact of Marital Status, Relationship Quality, and Network Social Support on Ambulatory Blood Pressure and Mental Health

Having close social relationships and being married specifically have been reliably associated with health benefits including lower morbidity and mortality. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of marital status, relationship quality, and network support on measures of psychological and cardiovascular health. METHOD: We examined ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) among 204 married and 99 single males and females (N = 303).

We found that both marital status and marital quality were important. Married individuals had greater satisfaction with life (SWL) and blood pressure dipping than single individuals. High marital quality was associated with lower ABP, lower stress, less depression, and higher SWL. Importantly, contrasting those who are unmarried with those in low-quality marriages, we find that single individuals had lower ABP-suggesting that single individuals fare better than their unhappily married counterparts. Likewise, having a supportive network did not moderate (i.e., buffer) the effects of being single or unhappily married.