‘Til Dementia Do Us Part: Greater Cognitive Decline Among Married

A new study suggests that married and widowed individuals bear a significantly higher risk of developing dementia than their unmarried and divorced counterparts. The findings contradict long-held beliefs that marriage produces better health outcomes. The study’s authors write. “Married individuals tend to have less social integration and are engaged in less frequent and lower-quality interactions in their networks compared to their unmarried counterparts. These positive aspects of well-being and social ties may potentially serve as protective factors against dementia over time.”