Hey Dr Sue — Are There Cons Of Marriage/Kids For Each Gender?

From a health perspective, there are quite a few benefits for men who get married. Married men tend to live longer than non-married men. There is also some research that shows that married men have lower levels of everything from Alzheimer’s to heart disease.

From a mental health perspective, married men tend to report lower levels of depression. They also find the transition from working to being retired less stressful. And this is really important because we see an increase in death by suicide after men hit the age of 65.

And for those of you thinking this is just for straight men, that’s not true. Married gay men also see health benefits from marriage. Both in terms of mental and physical health.

Women also see health benefits from being married. But these benefits are not as great as they are for men. Women who are married do live slightly longer than single women. And while some studies have shown that married women have lower rates of depression than single women, that may not paint the whole picture.

Because we also see studies that found that women who are childfree and single report being the happiest group of people.

The problem with numbers like these are that they can be confusing. They can make us believe that it’s marriage…