Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The health effects of marriage are well documented and the research consistently shows that marriage positively affects mental and physical health. Unmarried persons are considered to have worse health than married persons because they lack the social and financial resources to which married persons have access. Although the relationship between marriage, social support, and health has been strongly established, this should not suggest that the unmarried lack access to social support systems and are doomed to ill health. Using data from the National Survey of Black Americans, this study examines the nature of the relationships between marital status, social support and psychological well-being. The findings suggest that marriage is not as beneficial to psychological well-being as previous studies have suggested, at least not for Black women. Although married women are less distressed than divorced or separated women, they are actually more distressed than widowed or never-married women. Married women do, however, have access to more social support. Yet, the spousal support married women receive is not associated with their mental health. Although spousal support did not protect married women from psychological distress, I did find that certain types of social support are associated with higher levels of distress.

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