Marital status and quality of relationships: the impact on health perception.

Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (1987-88), this study investigates how a variety of family conditions (including marital status as well as the quality of marital and cohabiting relationships) influences global health perception among 12,274 American adults. Health perception tends to vary according to different subcategories of the unmarried status. Logistic regression analyses indicate that health perception depends on marital status as well as on the quality of marriage and cohabitation. The health impacts of marriage are also determined by social network support.