An excellent summary of the studies done on married people can be found in the book The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially by Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher.1 Here are just a few of the many findings:

• Married people are much happier and likely to be less unhappy than any other group of people.
• Married people live up to eight years longer than divorced or never-married people.
• Married people suffer less from long-term illnesses than those who are unmarried.
• Married people are less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse.
• Married people have twice the amount of sex single people have and report greater levels of satisfaction in the area of sexual intimacy.

A look at individual studies by social scientists also confirms these conclusions. For example, married men and women report greater satisfaction with family life.2 Married couples report greater sexual satisfaction,3 and married women report higher levels of physical and psychological health.4 Married people experience less depression.5

Kerby Anderson, A Biblical Point of View on Homosexuality (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2008).