Good social relationships have been shown to be pivotal in improving one’s well-being and overall longevity. Both platonic and familial connections no doubt have profound influence on shaping one’s life. They, however, operate in different expectations and behaviours present due to the type of bond that is shared. Likewise, romantic relations let one be intimate in ways that may or may not be exclusive in respect to the other two ties.
Terman’s study disproved the old mantra that “a happy wife means a happy life”. Rather, data has indicated that it is the happiness of the husband that acts as a superior predictor of a happy marriage. It was also reported that married individuals who are no longer married lived longer lives than those who chose to remarry. As expected, both do pale in comparison to those who married once and stayed in a stable marriage.
My father is remarried but for my mother, this is her first and (most likely) only marriage. While I don’t know the nature of his divorce, several family members consider his remarriage a poor decision. He is currently much older than most fathers of children my age since he married younger, so I am curious as to whether or not he would have actually been representative of the results of Terman’s study or would he have not lived as long had he stayed in his first marriage or if he never remarried.
I also found it interesting that the finding in the book kind of contradicts what people would usually think of family relationships and health. :^) And I can understand why some people who undergone remarriage lived shorter lives because the stress brought by divorces and family reconstructions. But I feel that this is just a general data. Because I know people who are happily remarried and I think he would not be happier if he didn’t. I guess it really depends on personality and the nature of the former divorce.