Open AccessIs marriage a buzzkill? A twin study of marital status and alcohol consumption.
Author(s) -
Diana Dinescu,
Eric Turkheimer,
Christopher R. Beam,
Erin E. Horn,
Glen E. Duncan,
Robert E. Emery
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of family psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.138
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1939-1293
pISSN - 0893-3200
DOI - 10.1037/fam0000221
Subject(s) - psycinfo , psychology , poison control , alcohol consumption , human factors and ergonomics , developmental psychology , injury prevention , twin study , suicide prevention , alcohol , demography , social psychology , medical emergency , medline , medicine , heritability , genetics , biochemistry , chemistry , sociology , biology , political science , law
Married adults have consistently been found to drink less than their single or divorced counterparts. This correlation may not be causal, however, as people nonrandomly "select" into marriage and into alcohol use. The current study uses a sample of 2,425 same-sex twin pairs (1,703 MZ; 722 DZ) to control for genetic and shared environmental selection, thereby eliminating a great many third variable, alternative explanations to the hypothesis that marriage causes less drinking. Married twins were compared with their single, divorced, and cohabiting cotwins on drinking frequency and quantity. Married cotwins consumed fewer alcoholic beverages than their single or divorced cotwins, and drank less frequently than their single cotwins. Alcohol use patterns did not differ among married and cohabiting twins. These findings provide strong evidence that intimate relationships cause a decline in alcohol consumption. (PsycINFO Database Record