A study released in 2016 revealed that regardless of whether they are drinkers or teetotalers, older married couples who share the same drinking patterns are typically happier than couples where only one of the pair drinks.

The results showed that both spouses drank in more than half of the couples interviewed and the wives were less likely to drink than the husbands.

The significant finding was that non-drinking women married to men who drank were less satisfied over time with their marriages than women who shared a drink with their spouses.

The study spanned ten years (2006 – 2016).

During this time, a national sample of 4864 U.S. people over age 50 (2767 married couples), answered surveys about their drinking habits. The participants each attended personal interviews.

On average the participating couples were married for 33 years.

For around one-third of the couples, it was their second marriage.

The questions covered their overall drinking habits; if the were drinkers, they detailed the number of drinks consumed and on which days.

Surveys in 2015 from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that in this country, alcohol consumption tended to decline with increasing age. 

However, drinking is prevalent in our society with just over sixty percent of adults having consumed alcohol during the week before the latest ABS survey. Twenty percent said that they'd consumed alcohol in the past 12 months. Just over six percent claimed not having had alcohol for more than 12 months. Around ten percent said they had never consumed alcohol.

The American study found the amount that people drank was not the important factor. It was whether couple’s drinking habits were similar.  

The couples answered other relevant questions about the quality of their marriage, including if they felt their spouse was dependable when they needed help, was their spouse too critical and whether or not they felt their spouse was irritating.

Author, Dr Kira Birditt, from the University of Michigan told Reuters Health that the analysis wasn’t clear on why couples with the same drinking habits tended to report being happier: “It could be that couples do more leisure time activities together." 

"In other words, drinking may not be the only reason they’re getting along,” she said.

“We’re not suggesting that people should drink more or change the way they drink,” she said.  She emphasised that drinking was becoming an increasing problem in older people and particularly the baby boomers.

“The study shows that it’s not about how much they’re drinking, it’s about whether they drink at all,” Birditt said.

Read full study results here and more on ABS figures here

Published by Divorce Resource

 

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