Reconceptualizing Marital Status as a Continuum of Social Attachment

Abstract

Marriage is a legal category that may or may not reflect underlying social attachments (Weitzman, 1981). Theoretically marital status is relevant to well-being because it indicates attachment to a significant other (Ross, Mirowsky, & Goldsteen, 1990). Furthermore, marital status may reflect an outdated set of categories. When asked whether they are married, divorced, separated, never married, or widowed, more and more people find that none of these categories accurately describe their situation (Bumpass, Sweet, & Cherlin, 1991). Some people have a partner they are living with, but not in a traditional heterosexual marriage. Others have a partner outside the household. Some live in a household with other adults but without significant social attachments to them. Two people who both report that they are divorced, for example, may differ greatly on their significant social attachments. Reconceptualizing marital status as social attachment may operationalize the underlying concept more directly and explain the effect of marital status on well-being. Compared to people who are married, those who are single, divorced, and widowed have higher levels of depression, anxiety, and other forms of psychological distress (Gore & Mangione, 1983; Gove, Hughes, & Style, 1983; Kessler & Essex, 1982; Ross, Mirowsky, & Goldsteen, 1990). The one exception to the consistent, positive effects of marriage concerns young adults: Very young adults who get married do not experience lower depression levels than those who remain single (Horwitz & White, 1991). The positive effect of marriage on well-being is strong and consistent, and selection of the psychologically healthy into marriage or the psychologically unhealthy out of marriage cannot explain the effect (Booth & Amato, 1991; Horwitz & White, 1991; Menaghan; 1985). Some evidence shows that marriage protects men's psychological well-being more than women's (Gove & Tudor, 1973), although there is also counterevidence that shows that men's advantage over women in psychological well-being is as large or larger among the single, divorced, and widowed (Fox, 1980). Why does marriage improve psychological well-being? The first possibility is social integration. Studies of social relationships typically distinguish between social integration and social support. Social integration is the objective social condition indicative of more or less isolation; social support is the sense of having fulfilling personal relationships (Mirowsky & Ross, 1989). Integration is operationalized generally as the number or presence of other people in the network and, more specifically in family research, in the household. The presence of another adult in the household might explain why marriage improves well-being. A person who lives alone may be isolated from an important network of social and economic ties (Mirowsky & Ross, 1989). These ties may help create a stabilizing sense of security, belonging, and direction. Without them a person may feel lonely and unprotected. Because unmarried people often live alone but married people live with another adult, this could explain why unmarried people are more distressed. Contrary to expectation, however, Hughes and Gove (1981) found that unmarried people who live alone are no more distressed than those who live with other adults. The difference is between married people and others, not between people who live alone and others. The unmarried, living alone or with others, are significantly more distressed than the married. The presence or absence of other adults in the household does not appear to explain the effect of marriage on well-being (Hughes & Gove, 1981). Social support and the quality of relationships more likely explain why marriage is associated with psychological well-being. Compared with being unmarried, marriage provides emotional support--a sense of being cared about, loved, esteemed, and valued as a person. …