WELL-BEING AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO MARITAL STATUS
Well-being means that individuals are physiologically healthy and psychologically happy. Providing well-being is a prerequisite for people to achieve many goals in their lives. Prosperity unfolds depending on conditions such as age, employment, earnings, marital status, education, religious belief, which may affect physical and psychological health in human life (Helliwell and Putnam, 2004). In general terms, these conditions directly indicate the interaction of individuals with social life. Considering that marital status represents family relations, work and education represent the relationship of friendship, the case of religious belief represents the relationship between religious people sharing the same religion, it may be possible to admit that well-being depends on strong social ties. In this research paper, the institution of marriage, which is one of the close social ties and correlated with the psychological well-being of people, will be examined under the title of marital status.
One of the factors that has a noticeable effect on well-being is marital status. In fact, when looking at the sources, identifying people with happiness and well-being, their marital status has always been a prominent element. The term of marital status, which describes individuals whether they are married or not, is an essential point in life satisfaction because many studies prove that there is a strong link between psychological well-being and marital status. According to the US Benchmark Survey, being married clearly increases the level of life satisfaction and happiness. Life satisfaction is lower for unmarried people (Helliwell and Putnam, 2004). According to the results of the studies conducted by Gave, Tudor, and Radloff in the early 1970s, married men and married women were found to be more advantageous in terms of well-being and life satisfaction when compared to their unmarried fellows (Marks, 1996). This is caused by the sense of valence, emotional support, trust, and the contribution of these three to prevent some psychological problems.
It seems that being married directly affects people’s perceptions about themselves. Married people have higher self-esteem than singles (Helliwell and Putnam, 2004). Marks (1996), in her article, showed the sense of being worth to be chosen for marriage as the reason for this. Because he/she is worth marrying, the sense of self-worth and self-esteem will increase and this will have a direct positive effect on that person’s psychological well-being.
The fact that the spouses receive sincere emotional support from each other within the marriage institution , it contributes significantly to their well-being. Individuals who receive sincere emotional support by their spouses have the confidence to express themselves comfortably, which in a sense reveals the understanding of companionship within the marriage union. Berger Kellner argued that in 1964, based on this understanding of companionship, the institution of marriage created meaningfulness in individuals’ lives (Marks, 1996). The fact that marriage adds meaning to the life of the spouses makes things they do for each other meaningful and creates the happiness that will contribute to well-being. For instance, it is argued that spending money on their spouses, is more satisfactory than spending on themselves (Aknin, Sandstrom, Dunn, Norton, 2011). In addition, it has been observed that there is a non-ignorable link between being alone and mortality rates (Golden, Conroy, Bruce, Denihan, Greene, Kirby, Lawlor, 2009). This may be considered important to decide whether life is meaningful for non-married people, people who find life meaningless may be prone to neglect their physical health, and sometimes it may lead them to suicide because they find life meaningless (Spiker, 2014). As a result, all of this shows that the cycle that starts with getting emotional support from the spouse continues as a result of making life more meaningful and contributes to psychological well-being.
Another important reason that supports well-being is knowing that there is someone they can trust (Marks, 1996). The social support that married people receive by their spouses helps them to face the difficulties in their business life more easily and thus contributes to their life satisfaction. If spouses are reassured to support each other, depression from work-life stress is largely prevented (Sharma and Parmar, 2015). According to a study conducted in the Chicago area with 2300 participants, the rate of unmarried employees getting depressed due to job stress was higher than married workers (Marks, 1996). In addition, it can be observed that the job stress of married individuals is lower than that of singles, since being married makes it easier to balance the business life and private life. Thus, married couples who rely on each other and support each other can be beneficial in creating work-life balance, they can prevent depression caused by work stress and have a positive effect on well-being.
Marriage is the strongest social bond that hinders loneliness. Pearlin and Johnson stated with evidence that unmarried individuals suffer significantly from social isolation (Marks, 1996). Married people are less likely to experience mental health problems such as depression and anxiety compared to people who are alone. In a study where thirty-five percent of the participants were alone, nine percent of single participants defined themselves as “painful” unlike married people. At the same time, the levels of hopelessness and depression expressed by married people are much lower than the indicators of non-married people (Golden, Conroy, Bruce, Denihan, Greene, Kirby, Lawlor, 2009). All this shows that marital status is a decisive feature in well-being.
In summary, well-being, which expresses people’s state of being happy and healthy, develops not only due to conditions such as education level, religious belief, material gain, age, health status, but also due to marital status. Marital status is a factor that directly affects ‘life satisfaction’. When married people and unmarried people are compared, it is seen that married people feel more valuable and have higher self-esteem than singles. In addition, married individuals are more advantageous in terms of psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety. Thanks to the marriage institution, individuals experience a decrease in the sense of loneliness and an increase in happiness levels. In addition, individuals who are in marriages wherein they trust and are supported by their spouses are more likely to find life more meaningful than single people, and this is a factor that increases life satisfaction. As a result, marital status is one of the key elements in ensuring well-being.
REFERENCES
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Golden, J., Conroy, R. M., Bruce, I., Denihan, A., Greene, E., Kirby, M., & Lawlor, B. A. (2009). Loneliness, social support networks, mood and wellbeing in community‐dwelling elderly. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: A journal of the psychiatry of late life and allied sciences, 24(7), 694–700.
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Marks, N. F. (1996). Flying solo at midlife: Gender, marital status, and psychological well-being. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 917–932.
Sharma, S., & Parmar, J. S. (2015). Social Support and Its Relationship to Work-life Balance — A Study of Medical Professionals in Government Hospitals of Himachal Pradesh. Productivity, 56(1).
Spiker, R.L. (2014). Mental Health and Marital Status. In The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society (eds W.C. Cockerham, R. Dingwall and S. Quah).
