Marital status and mental health revisited: Examining the importance of risk factors and resources

Much of the research on the relationship between marital status and mental health has only looked at married versus "nonmarried" groups. This research examines differences among marital groups and examines how distress is dis tributed among these groups. Although friend/relative support, self-esteem, and mastery are important Sor each marital group, patterns for other resou rces are not as consistent. Even when controlling for psychosocial resource s, married and never married women and non whites have higher distress leve ls.