Happily Married Women Have Better Stress Responses

Happily married women are better able to control their stress than women whose marriages are unhappy. UCLA researchers, led by Darby E. Saxbe, a graduate student in clinical psychology, tracked levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in 30 married women who work and have kids.

“At least as far as women are concerned, being happily married appears to bolster physiological recovery from work,” said Saxbe. “After a tough day at the office, cortisol levels dropped further among happily married women than less happily married ones. Less happily married women also showed a flatter daily pattern of cortisol release, suggesting that they are rebounding less well from everyday stress.”

Elevated cortisol levels have been linked to a variety of mental and physical health difficulties, including anxiety, depression, and increased belly fat. “This is the first study to show that daily cortisol patterns are linked to marital satisfaction for women but not men,” said Rena Repetti, a UCLA professor in the department of psychology and co-author of the study.

Cortisol is a stress hormone released by the adrenal gland in response to stress. Cortisol levels within the body are considered a reliable way to measure a person’s response to stress. Levels of the hormone in the body start out high in the morning gradually decline throughout the day, although the decline is affected by stressors that occur and signal the adrenal gland. The slope of the level of cortisol is directly correlated with well-being, and the steeper the decline the better.

“Cortisol may by one of the routes by which repeated everyday stress translates into long-term mental and physical health problems,” Repetti said.

The UCLA study found that women in happy marriages had a steeper slope – a better cortisol decline – than women in unhappy marriages. Men showed the decline regardless of their marital condition, but only happily married women enjoyed the benefit of better decreased cortisol levels.

“Past research has found that men appear to get a health and longevity boost from marriage, while for women, being married is only beneficial insofar as the marriage is high-quality,” Repetti said. “This study is the first to point to daily cortisol fluctuations as a specific pathway through which marital quality affects health for women but not men.”

Women in unhappy marriages may be experiencing stressors that cause their cortisol levels to fluctuate more, instead of enjoying the declining levels associated with better health and well being.

Shadra Bruce is a contributing writer for Mental Health News.