HEALTH
If the surgeon general were to issue a list of the "Top 10 Ways to Live Longer," man, age would surely make the cut. Married folks--particularly men--outlive their single counterparts by three to seven years.
Such findings led researchers to assume that wedlock lengthens lives by shielding us from stress and encouraging healthy habits. And it may well do so. But a new study suggests that the relationship between marital status and life span depends at least in part on our personality-as a child.
Data from the famous Terman study --which has tracked the same group of individuals since 1921--shows that folks who were conscientious as kids are more likely both to live longer and to have a stable marriage. In other words, reports Brandeis University psychologist Joan Tucker, Ph.D., in Health Psychology, it's not simply that a happy union adds years to one's life, but that conscientiousness benefits health and marriage alike.
