Marriage and mental health

Does marriage improve the mental health of men at the expense of women? The author investigates whether this widespread belief is supported by data from the 1997 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing of Adults. This Australian Bureau of Statistics survey included questions about people's marital status, their family structure and related matters. The results are unequivocal about the general situation in contemporary Australian families, it is concluded. When a range of types of mental disorders are considered, marriage reduces the risk of mental disorders for both men and women. Although married men and women risk different types of disorders, this has nothing to do with them being married.