What is it about?
Although research suggests that marriage is beneficial to mental health, evidence is more mixed as to whether men and women derive equal benefit. In western countries, where women have made large strides in reducing gender inequality, the mental health benefits of marriage are now recognized as distributed in equal measure to men and women. But, it is unknown whether men and women derive equal benefit from marriage in countries where gender inequality is high. Analyzing survey data from a subnationally representative sample of young adults in India, this study shows that marriage is associated with better mental health for males. For females, better mental health is associated with being single, never married.
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Why is it important?
This is the first study to test the sex role hypothesis in India, a country with high levels of gender inequality.
Perspectives
Little is known about the correlates of mental health in developing countries, mainly because few countries collect this type of information. Thus, not only does this study shed light on the predictors of mental health in the Indian population, it reveals that men and women do not share equally in the mental health benefits of marriage. Instead, marriage appears to benefit the mental health of Indian men, whereas being single is associated with better mental health among Indian women
Dr. Lisa Strohschein
University of Alberta
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Gender, Marital Status, and Mental Health: A Test of the Sex Role Hypothesis in India, Journal of Family Issues, November 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0192513x16680090.
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