Same-Sex Couples not as Healthy as Heterosexual Married Couples According to National Health Survey

Healthy marriages are certainly important, but a new study published in the Journal of health and Social Behavior shows that some marriages may be healthier than others.

Same-sex couples who were asked about their health status after living together compared their responses to heterosexual couples who were married or living together, as well as to people who were divorced, widowed or had never been married.

The study took information from 1,634 women living in same-sex relations and 1,659 men living with their male partners who were part of the National Health Interview Surveys from 1997 to 2009.

Previous data on the topic showed that married couples are usually healthier than their non-married counterparts. However, as those in same-sex relationships reported better health than those who were single, same-sex partners reported poorer health, alternatively, than their heterosexual married counterparts.

"These same-sex marriage-like relationships represent a very interesting population, not only for politics, but in terms of the health disparities," says lead study author Hui Liu, an assistant professor of sociology at Michigan State University according to Time.

Living in same-sex relationships were 61 percent more likely to report being in fair or poor health compared to men in heterosexual relationships who were reported to be healthier. Women in same-sex relationships were also 46 percent more likely to report the same or lower health status compared to those in heterosexual marriages.

And though variations among race and gender were not found, researchers did find differences when they compared women living in same-sex relationships to single women, including information regarding black women who were living with their female partners. They typically had worse health than black women in any other non-married status. Conversely, same-sex cohabiting white women had better health than heterosexual cohabiters and divorced white women.

Researchers speculate that this may be caused by cultural discrimination within the community, such as homophobia.

 "Most of those people in the cohabiting relationships cannot be legally married, so they cannot get the resources related to marriage - for example the health insurance benefits from their spouses," says Liu. "This is not good for their health. It is also possible that the same-sex couples suffer higher levels of discrimination and higher levels of stress which may also effect their physical health."