MARRIED PEOPLE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19127, 23 September 1936, Page 15

MARRIED PEOPLE

L#E LONGER THAN SINGLE

JFHAT STATISTICS SHOW

DIPMMISrCES NOTED

LONDON, Aug. 8

Some 50 years ago William Parr, the" renowned English statistician, made the following notation in the course of his medical researches:— "'Marriage is a healthy state. The single individual is more likely to he wrecked on his voyagei (through life) thf&t the lives joified together in matrimony."' |jiarr, fact lover that he was, must hatfe been going pretty much on inetiitet and personal observation; for, surprising as it may be, the first survey of the relation of marriage to health on any wide scale has only just been completed. If shows that Parr's was right. On a three-year analysis of mortality due to nearly all causes, the degfth-rate is more than 20 per cent Wcr in the case of married persons, of all age's, than in the .cases of bachelors and spinsters. \shen the figures are divided into specific age' ; groups and diseases, the incidence <of death among, single people jumj>s to as high as 400 per cent a f b"r>v"c matoied persons. Tie mortality rate among widowed and 1 , divorced people' is even higher thaii among/single people. These fae'ts. are based ori reports from the Registrar-General and from the MetrpjpoHtaji Life Insurance Com* pariy of New Ybrki, Iris interesting to note how closely the^ 1 bear each other out. Also to jffis&tbat under 20 years of age more ttiairied women die than single; the reaMra being for the increased hazards Of childbirth at this early stage. CAUSES OP DEATH tt\ is when we analyse the causes of death due to specific, diseases that" the most illuminating evidence is foutid in favour of marriage as a very definite aid to health and' longevity. tftfe diseases to which single people are 1 particularly susceptible are—both ! sexes about' equally—influenza, pneu- . monia, tuberculosis, anaemia, stroke, heatt ailments, stomach diseases and ulcers, appeiidicitis and diabetes. -

Alcoholism' showV the most surprising! increase of all. It is about 400 per' cent greater in single men, but abotit 00 per centvgrVater in married women between the ages of 2;" and 43d

The general medical explanation for this*, para'dox; is; that the female alcbliolics are; almost' without exception,; suffering from some preliminary nerVous complication of which drinking;, is only a symptom. , With men it is due to a straightforward business" of havirig tob many rounds, pub-cradling, and getting deliberately "tight" to go out on a party. Oddly enough, this latter cause is attributed by psychologists to the surprising fact that men are more shy than" 1 : women. I

fiifeths frcm exposure—pneumonia, influenza, tuberculoids, bronchitisshow the next greatest increase in single people over married. The single person not only does not wrap carefully; in dangerous wcatherj but; goes out' muck more. Appendicitis and ulcers show from 20 per cent to HO per cent greater frequency in single people. Again, the ansWer is common sense. The single person eats hurriedly,-insufficiently, incorrectly, irregularly. MYSTERY DISEASE

Cancer, the dread mystery disease, show's little selection between single and' married people, with the notable exee'piibn of cancer of the breast, which ruris up to'2s per echt higher in single women between the ages of 45 to 64.

Diabetes is unique in that it has a relatively high mortality among married women after 45.

Ohe of the most interesting differences' is in fatal accidents. There are'more than twice as many fatalities among bachelors than among married men': and, discounting the fact that women rarely indulge in adventurous or dangerous pursits even in spinsterhoofl, the fatal accident toll stands at 40 per cent higher among single women up to the age of 45. EinbtiOnal stability is probably the mairj factor in these enormous differences in the death rate.

Certainly doctors who specialise in marital advice agree that where there is emotional stability, even though it be not of the ''sweep you r.ff you' - feet" type, there is inevitably satisfaction and,_h.ence, health.. ,