12.7.2: The Bright Side of Family Life:

 12.7.2: The Bright Side of Family Life:

 Successful Marriages On the bright side, marriage improves people’s health (Siegler et al. 2013). A primary reason is the social support of the spouse (Hung et al. 2019). Compared with single people, most married people also have more sex, are happier, have less depression, and are less likely to abuse drugs (Emery et al. 2012). And the more successful the marriage, the better all of these good things are. I should also note that researchers have found that cohabitation also improves the health of men, but for reasons unknown, not that of women (Lindstrom and Rosvall 2019). But what makes marriage successful? Let’s try to find out. 412 Successful Marriages Sociologists Jeanette and Robert Lauer (1992) interviewed 351 couples who had been married 15 years or longer. Fifty-one of these marriages were unhappy. The couples had stayed together for religious reasons, because of family tradition, or “for the sake of the children.” What about the 300 happy couples? They all Consider their spouse to be their best friend Like their spouse as a person Think of marriage as a long-term commitment Believe that marriage is sacred Agree on aims and goals Believe that their spouse has grown more interesting over the years Strongly want the relationship to succeed Laugh together Sociologist Nicholas Stinnett (1992) studied 660 families from the United States and South America. He found that the happy families Spend a lot of time together Are quick to express appreciation Promote one another’s welfare Do a lot of talking and listen to one another Are religious Deal with crises in a positive manner Here are three more important factors, which won’t surprise you: Marriages are happier when couples enjoy leisure activities together (Crawford et al. 2002), agree on how to spend money (Bernard 2008), and get along with their in-laws (Bryant et al. 2001).