A new study shows that people who have never been married and lead a solitary life are more likely to die prematurely than people who have been married and divorced, separated or widowed. However, all individuals who either have never had a wife/husband or had one but they are divorced, separated or widowed, have higher chances of dying earlier than people who are still married.

Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles found that the case of shorter life spans applies not only to elder people, but to young people, too. Therefore, individuals of all age ranges who are single or who used to have a relationship are more likely to have shorter life spans than individuals with stable marriages and families. "This seems to happen all the way along," stated lead researcher Robert Kaplan, professor and chair of the department of health services at the School of Public Health, University of California.

Previous researches have also shown that people who live alone and do not have a stable relationship are more at the risk of dying prematurely or at the risk of cardiovascular disease than happily married individuals. However, these studies failed to make a difference between the ones who have been single all along and those who were divorced, separated or widowed due to various reasons. "We're getting at never-married people. That hasn't been looked at as much," lead researcher said.

On the overall, marriage and family provide a steady social background for people by prolonging their lives and improving their diseases resistance. The fact that divorced, separated or widowed people are more likely to have children offers them a higher "social connectedness" as compared to the case of people who have been single all their lives.

The report that is going to be published in the September issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that never married people are 58% more at risk of dying earlier than married people, while those who were divorced, separated or widowed had a 40% higher incidence of mortality.