So you’re in your mid-20s (maybe your mid-30s), and people keep dropping hints that maybe it’s time to settle down. But to hell with age, man! You’re still living the single life, chugging down watered-down vodka sodas on Friday night and rediscovering women’s underwear under your bed on Sunday afternoon.
A relationship would just weigh you down, right? Marriage is just a shackling of the ball and chain where you surrender your ability to score hot women, right? Wave goodbye to your free time spent learning how to throw an ax like Jason Momoa, right?
Maybe pump the brakes, champ. Marriage rates may be slipping in the U.S., and 20% of Americans have never been married, but that doesn’t mean it’s as bad as you might think.
In fact, good chunk of research suggests that married guys have plenty going for them, according to a new research brief from the University of Utah, published by the conservative-leaning Institute for Family Studies. According to the new report, married men have a few distinct advantages over their single counterparts:
1. Married men make more money
Researchers found men who tie the knot have greater financial returns, including higher earnings (about $16,000 more), greater assets, and stronger job stability than single guys with similar experience.
2. Married men have steamier sex lives
About 51% of wedded men are “extremely emotionally satisfied” with sex, compared to 39% of cohabiting men and 36% of single men, according to data from the National Health and Social Life Survey.
3. Married men live longer
Guys who tie the knot—and stay together—live almost 10 years longer than their unmarried peers. They’re also more content: 43% of married men are “very happy” with life, compared to 20% of single men and 24% of men who co-habitate with their partners but are unmarried.
Again, this is one study. And we’re not saying you should abandon the single life if you don’t want to. But consider this: Jason Momoa is married, and he finds time to throw axes, drink Guinness, and get shredded. You can too.
