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relationships. There also are greater expectations for relationships: Marriage is expected to provide a source of intimacy, sexuality, and companionship. Thus people have increasing expectations of marriage, and marriage may be less likely to meet those expectations. It is also much easier to dissolve a marriage today than it was in the middle of the 20th century, and society is more tolerant of marital breakups.

Thus, one characteristic of modern marriage is that it is less likely to last. In 2004, 23% of women and 21% of women had been divorced at least one time (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007b). The rates were higher among Whites (24%) than Blacks (19%), Hispanics (13%), and Asians (9%). See Table 11.1 for a list of factors that decrease one’s risk of divorce.

Although the divorce rate increased over much of the 20th century, peaking in 1981, it has steadily decreased since that time (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005, 2009d). One reason that divorce rates have stabilized is that women and men wait longer before they marry, and older age at first marriage is less likely to result in divorce. Today, the median age of marriage is 28 for men and 26 for women (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010a).

The marriage rate also has declined in recent years, in part due to increased cohabitation and in part due to people waiting longer before getting married. In 2008, 59% of males and 56% of females over 18 in the United States were married, although the rate was much lower among Blacks (44% male; 37% female) than Asians (65% male and female), Whites (55% male; 54% female), and Hispanics (56% male; 58% female; U.S. Census Bureau, 2009a). The percentage of the population marrying has decreased while the percentage of people who are divorced and never married has increased. In 2009, 30% of men and 23% of adult women had never married (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010b), but these numbers varied greatly by race. Figures for never-married males and females were comparable among Whites and Asians (White: 26% male; 19% female; Asian: 28% male; 19% female) but much larger for Blacks (43% male; 41% female) and much lower for Hispanics (4% male; 5% female). TABLE 11.1FACTORS THAT PROTECT AGAINST DIVORCE DURING THE FIRST 10 YEARS OF MARRIAGE

higher income having a baby seven months or more after marriage (as compared to before marriage) at least age 25 at marriage parents married (rather than divorced) religious affiliation higher education

Source: Bramlett and Mosher (2002). Nonetheless, most young adults say that they want to get married (Pew Research, 2007), although African

American adolescents have lower expectations than their White and Mexican American counterparts (Crissey, 2005). African Americans are less likely to marry than other groups in part due to socioeconomic factors (Bulanda & Brown, 2007). There are proportionally fewer African American men with stable jobs, and economic problems lead to family conflict. Although Hispanics share some of the same economic problems, Hispanic culture attaches greater value to marriage whereas African American culture emphasizes the importance of the extended family.

Evidence In 1957, Hannah Lees wrote the book Help Your Husband Stay Alive. She expressed concern over the fact that men die younger than women and the sex difference in longevity was widening. She suggested that women were not living up to their duty of helping to lengthen the life span of their husbands. Lees said wives should provide support to husbands, make husbands’ lives easier, help husbands cope with the pressures and frustrations they face in the working world, provide opportunities for husbands to relax, and help husbands take care of their health.

Lees (1957) may have been too critical of wives. It turns out that women do help men live longer. Numerous studies have shown that being married is advantageous to psychological and physical health for both women and men but that men reap greater rewards from marriage than women do. These findings come from large epidemiological studies in which women’s and men’s marital status and health status are measured and

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then followed for many years. In three such studies, men who were married were less likely to die than men who were unmarried over the 9 to 15 years they were followed (Berkman & Syme, 1979; House et al., 1982; Shye et al., 1995). Marital status did not predict mortality among women in any of these studies. A more recent eight- year longitudinal study showed that never-married persons had a 158% increase in mortality compared to married persons, but the difference between the two groups was larger for men than women (Kaplan & Kronick, 2006). Never-married men had especially high rates of mortality from infectious disease and accidents if younger and heart disease if older. Two other studies showed that being never married was more hazardous to men’s than women’s health (Molloy et al., 2009; Pizzetti & Manfredini, 2008).

On health parameters other than mortality, married people also fare better and the benefits seem to be stronger for men. Four studies—in Japan, Korea, the United States, and Canada—showed that married people had less depression than unmarried people, but the difference was greater for men than women (Hughes & Waite, 2009; Inaba et al., 2005; Jang et al., 2009; St. John & Montgomery, 2009). A study of Hispanic older adults found that living alone was associated with depression but more so for men than women (Russell & Taylor, 2009). A study of cancer survivors showed that married men were less distressed than unmarried men, but married women were more distressed than unmarried women (Goldzweig et al., 2009). Another study examined C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation that predicts cardiovascular disease, in older adults and found that married men had lower levels of C-reactive protein than unmarried men, but there were no differences in C-reactive protein among married and unmarried women (Sbarra, 2009). Married people also have a reduced risk of stroke compared to unmarried persons, and the relation is stronger in men than women (Maselko et al., 2009). Taken collectively, it appears that marriage has stronger benefits on men’s than women’s health.

Is marriage less beneficial for women than men because marriage is associated with relatively more distress for women or because being unmarried is associated with relatively more distress for men? There is some support for both ideas. One study showed that the rate of psychiatric disorders was higher among married women than married men, but similar among unmarried women and men (Sachs-Ericsson & Ciarlo, 2000). However, another study showed that the state of being unmarried was more distressing for men. In a study of over 4,000 adults in Germany, the three groups of unmarried men were more lonely than the three groups of unmarried women (divorced, widowed, and never married), whereas there was no sex difference in loneliness among the married (see Figure 11.1; Pinquart, 2003).