Men Should Marry After 25 to Have Better Bone Health, Study

A latest report highlighting the association between marriage and bone health suggests that men should marry after 25 for better bone health.

The study documented in the journal Osteoporosis, found that men who married before age 25 suffered from lower bone strength compared to men married at a later age. The researchers also found that the men who were in a stable marriage or relationships or had no broken relationships or divorces in their past, also had a better bone health than men who were alone and unmarried.

Surprisingly, a similar link was absent in women, the researchers could not trace the same benefit in women who were married or in a relationship. But they found that women who had supportive partners had greater bone health than women who lived with unsupportive partners who never appreciated them.

This is the first study to link the quality of marriage and marital histories to men's bone health.

"There is very little known about the influence of social factors -- other than socioeconomic factors -- on bone health. Good health depends not only on good health behaviors, such as maintaining a healthy diet and not smoking, but also on other social aspects of life, such as marital life stories and quality of relationships," said Dr. Carolyn Crandall, a professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA .

The researchers worked on the data retrieved from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. The participants belonged to the age group 25-75 and it was conducted in 1995-96. In the year 2004-2005, the participants were again interviewed (MIDUSII). During this MIDUS II visit, the researchers used a standard bone density scanner to get the hip and spine bone density measurements. They used this measurement along with other data to evaluate the association between marriage and bone health in nearly 294 men and 338 women. Certain factors like medication, menopause and health behavior were also taken into consideration.

The link between marriage and bone health was clearly visible in the participant's spine and not hip. The researchers assume the difference exists due to the bone compositions. Higher bone density was seen in the spines when men were in a long stable marriage. If men were married before the age of 25, there was a drop in the spine bone strength for each year the person was married before the age of 25.

"Very early marriage was detrimental in men, likely because of the stresses of having to provide for a family," said study co-author Dr. Arun Karlamangla, a professor of medicine in the geriatrics division at the Geffen School.

The biological link between the two aspects is still unknown and the team plans study this further.

The authors conclude, "Despite these limitations, the findings "provide additional new evidence of the association between psychosocial life histories and adult bone health. The gender differences observed in the association between marital history and [bone strength] are consistent with gender differences seen in previous studies of marital status and other aspects of health, and imply that we should not assume that marriage has the same health rewards for men and women."