Do you drink more or less often and heavily when you are in a relationship? A new study has found that people who are married or living together tend to drink less — so fewer drinks, and less often. The results also show that singles drink more often, and in larger amounts.
Previous studies have shown that married adults drink less than single or divorced people, so this study examined the drinking behavior of 2,425 same-sex twins to see if these findings are the same in people who share genetic and familial backgrounds.
Married twins were compared with their single, divorced and co-twin co-twins on drinking and amount of alcohol. The married co-twins consumed less alcohol than their single or divorced co-twins and drank less often. Twins cohabiting, like their married companions, consumed less alcohol than single or separated twins.
Interestingly, the researchers found that, overall, cohabiting participants drank more often than married men and women, but less than their single, widow, and divorced counterparts. Cohabiting men, however, drink less alcohol on one occasion than married men, while cohabiting women drink about the same on one occasion as their married counterparts.
The study concluded that when a relationship is over, people are more likely to drink more heavily in a session, but not necessarily more often.
