Trending News: New study suggests depressions happens less in some marriages
SHORT VERSION
According to a new line of research, married couples making less than sixty-thousand dollars per year experience fewer symptoms of depression than unmarried couples in the same income bracket.
But for couples who earn more than sixty-thousand, the same cannot be said.
LONG VERSION
Have you ever been told that married life holds certain benefits? Did a friend or family member ever suggest their marriage makes them happy?
If so, you wouldn’t be alone. For years, many in the mental health field have encouraged couples to consider marriage when it is right for a couple’s situation.
The reason?
It is thought that having a nuptial bond with another promotes happiness.
But is that really true? Well, according to a new study that has been released in the journal Social Science Research, the answer is maybe.
Specifically, the study suggests that people who are married and earning less than $60,000 per year experience fewer symptoms of depression.
Now it’s important to state that this same research also suggests that married couples in higher earning income brackets do not experience the same anti-depressant benefit. The same holds true for unmarried couples earning a comparable income.
More: Wealth impacts levels of happiness
Investigators at Georgia State University surveyed over 3,600 adults across the United States between the ages of 24-89. As part of their work, they analyzed responses from never married, married and newly married adults.
Dr. Ben Lennox Kail, first author of the study and assistant professor of sociology at Georgia State shared the following observations in a statement:
“Specifically, people who are married and earning less than $60,000 a year in total household income experience fewer symptoms of depression. But above that, marriage is not associated with the same kind of reduction in symptoms of depression.”
He also added:
“For people who are earning above $60,000, they don’t get this bump because they already have enough resources. About 50 percent of the benefit these households earning less than $60,000 per year get from marriage is an increased sense of financial security and self-efficacy, which is probably from the pooling of resources.”
So, what does this all mean? Well, the way I’m reading things, it sounds one of the benefits of marriage is knowing that a couple can worry less about their financial futures because they are contributing to the household pot. Less worry could mean less depression.
What would be interesting to know is why married couples earning more than sixty grand don’t experience the same mental health bennies?
Could it be that the sense of financial struggle lower-income couples experience paradoxically strengthens their relational bond? Hey, there’s something to be said about working as a team.
