In Good Times and In Bad: Marital Status, Marital Quality, and Vulnerability to Stress

• In Event: 598 - Section on Sociology of Mental Health Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Marital Status

Abstract

It is well-established that marriage is associated with a range of positive mental and physical health outcomes (Pearlin and Johnson 1977; Hughes and Gove 1981; Turner, Wheaton, and Lloyd 1995; Kim and McKenry 2002; Simon 2002; French and Williams 2007). Although a central tenet of the social stress model is that social support can protect individuals from the negative consequences of stress, the role of marriage and, especially, marital quality in buffering stress has rarely been considered. Our analysis of nationally representative data from the Americans’ Changing Lives Study indicates that, prior to considering marital quality, marriage on average does not protect men and women from the negative mental health consequences of stress exposure. For women, high quality marriages alone appear to perform this function, at least in terms of protecting them from the negative consequences of exposure to chronic strains. In contrast, marriage does not appear to provide men with protection from the negative mental health consequences of stress exposure, regardless of the quality of the marriage.

Authors

• Kristi L. Williams, The Ohio State University

• Anna Muraveva, The Ohio State University