Men: marry for the sake of your bones, but not too young!

Marriage is good for the health of men’s bones – but only if they marry when they’re 25 or older, new US research suggests.

Publishing their work in Osteoporosis International, the research team found evidence from their study of 632 people that men who married when they were younger than 25 years had lower bone strength than men who married for the first time at a later age.

 Men in stable marriages (or marriage-like relationships) who had never previously divorced or separated had greater bone strength than men whose previous marriages had fractured, the researchers said. And those in stable relationships also had stronger bones than men who never married.

 Although for women there were no similar links between bone health and being married or in a marriage-like relationship, the study authors did find evidence that women with supportive partners had greater bone strength than those whose partners didn’t appreciate them, understand how they felt or were emotionally unsupportive in other ways.

 This is the first time that marital histories and marital quality have been linked to bone health, claims Prof Carolyn Crandall, senior author.

 “There is very little known about the influence of social factors – other than socioeconomic factors – on bone health,” she says. “Good health depends not only on good health behaviors, such as maintaining a healthy diet and not smoking, but also on other social aspects of life, such as marital life stories and quality of relationships.”

 “Very early marriage was detrimental in men, likely because of the stresses of having to provide for a family,” explains Prof Arun Karlamangla, who was involved in the work.

 Next on the agenda is looking into the biological pathways that connect bone health and marriage.