The Times reports on a new study of the benefits of marriage for cardiovascular health. The study covered 94 married couples, recruited from Salt Lake City according to the Times. Their average age of participants was 30, two thirds had college degrees, and 83% were white. Participation meant answering psychosocial questions and wearing a blood pressure monitor for a day. Researchers were looking for a relationship between marital quality and blood pressure.
The psychologists who ran the study measured ambivalence among 77% of spouses, which I think means some good and bad responses to questions like, "When you are really excited, happy, or proud of something, how positive is your spouse?", and "How upsetting is your spouse?"
Their punchline was that ambivalence was associated with higher blood pressure, both for self and spouse; the more ambivalent one's marriage is, the less protective for cardiovascular health, presumably.
