Marriage is not bad for women

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Marriage is not bad for women, study claims

Marriage gives men and women an equal mental boost, according to Australian research.

The results contradict studies from the 1970s which suggested that married men were better off than women.

In 1972 sociologist Jessie Bernard looked at symptoms of anxiety, depression, neurosis and passivity in married and unmarried people.

She concluded that married men benefited mentally at the expense of women. The finding became a central tenet of the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s.

But an Australian psychologist says Ms Bernard only looked at a narrow definition of stress.

David de Vaus, from La Trobe University in Melbourne, claims most research has ignored the fact that mental disorder can manifest itself in men in the form of drug and alcohol abuse.

He looked at data from 10,641 adults taken from the 1996 national survey of mental health in Australia, which included drug abuse as an indicator of stress.

Mr De Vaus found that the percentage of married men and women suffering stress was the same, at just 13%, New ScientistNew Scientist magazine reports.

But a quarter of both men and women were unhappy when single.

Married women with children and a job had the fewest mental health problems among females, suggesting that being a mother is not as stressful as some people claim.

“Psychologists are now debating whether Bernard’s conclusions have always been flawed, or whether women have become genuinely happier side marriage over the past 30 years,” said New Scientist.