This is an interesting study. My wife and I have been together for almost 42 years, we share many of the same interests and enjoy a lot of things together. Our drinking habits are very much the same, most of the time if either of us are drinking we are drinking together. I feel like this is a very good thing for us, both from a social stand point, but on so many other levels. Many couples fight over financial things, and if one drinks and the other doesn't, this can lead to a serious financial rift, especially if money is tight. I feel like this is a very valid study and a good read.
The
study, conducted by the University of Michigan, found that married couples aged
over 50 with the same drinking habits as their partner – whether they partake,
or abstain – tended to be more happier than those whose drinking habits were
misaligned. The amount that people
drank was less important than whether both partners had the same habit of
drinking or not drinking, the study found.
Women in particular became increasingly dissatisfied over time when only
they, and not their partner, drank. “Concordant
drinking couples reported decreased negative marital quality over time, and
these links were significantly greater among wives”. “Wives who reported drinking alcohol
reported decreased negative marital quality over time when husbands also
reported drinking and increased negative marital quality over time when
husbands reported not drinking.”
“The present findings stress the importance
of considering the drinking status rather than the amount of alcohol consumed
of both members of the couple when attempting to understand drinking and
marital quality among older couples”, researchers concluded. “These findings
are particularly salient given the increased drinking among baby boomers and
the importance of marital quality for health among older couples.”
