Reconceptualizing Marital Status as a Continuum of Social Attachment

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, Gove, Hughes, Kessler Ross, Mirowsky, Horwitz Menaghan; 1985). Some evidence shows that marriage protects men's psychological well-being more than women's (Gove 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. …