Marriage protects against alcoholism
Last reviewed: 20.05.2018
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Scientists argue that single people are more likely to develop alcoholism, and marriage is a kind of protection against this addiction.
Alcoholism is a serious disease that begins with almost imperceptible symptoms and subsequently develops into a pathological dependence on alcohol, destroying the personality of a person. It is worth noting that some people are more likely to develop alcoholism, especially under the influence of socio-economic environment, emotional or psychological predilection, hereditary factors, an important role in the development of addiction is played by both internal and external factors.
In the new study, scientists tried to determine how the relationship between a man and a woman, in particular marriage, affects the likelihood of developing alcoholism in the future for one of the spouses, and as it turned out, the impact is quite strong.
But at the same time, if one of the spouses is alcoholic, then the risk of developing severe dependence in the second significantly increases.
The study was conducted at a Swedish university where the professor of psychiatry Kenneth Kendler and his colleagues analyzed the data of more than 3 million people who were born between 1960 and 1990, at the time of the study, all participants had no health problems and were lonely. As a result, scientists found that among men, marriage reduces the likelihood of development of alcoholism by 59%, among women by 73%. Also, scientists argue that it is necessary to marry those who have close relatives suffered from this harmful habit and have a hereditary predisposition to alcohol dependence. But this result was not valid for those who were addicted to alcohol before marriage, in this case, the risk of alcohol dependence increases significantly in the second half, especially for women living with alcoholics. According to Professor Kendler, living with a person suffering from alcohol dependence is much worse than being lonely.
Now, scientists are going to find out whether the influence of divorce on the development of addiction to alcohol. According to scientists, the gap significantly increases the likelihood of the development of alcoholism, both in women and men, because the severity of the loss of the second half of many trying to "drown" in the glass. Also Kendler and his team plan to identify the relationship between the development of alcoholism and other life circumstances, for example, with the loss of work, the inability to have a child, etc.
By the way, scientists believe that marriage as a whole is good for health, for example, at the University of California found that people with cancer, married, live longer, compared with single cancer patients.
After studying the data of cancer patients and monitoring their health for several years, the researchers found that mortality among single men is higher by 27%, among women by 19%. According to scientists, this may be due to the lifestyle and support of a loved one who plays an important role in the fight against such diseases.
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