Using survey data collected from the Canadian Community Health Survey (2016), this study examined the impact of marital status on Canadians’ physical and mental health, and their sense of wellbeing. The study found that for the overall sample, being married or being divorced/separated/widowed has a significant positive impact on Canadians’ health, while living in a cohabitating relationship has negative effects on health. The results also show that quantitatively, being married has a larger positive impact on physical health compared to other marital status categories. Further, being married, being in a cohabitating relationship, or being divorced/separated/widowed each have positive effects on mental health. However, quantitatively, being married has a larger positive effect on mental health compared to other marital status categories. The study further examined whether there was a gender difference in the impact of marital status and found slight differences between men and women. It found that being married has a positive effect on men and women’s health, while cohabitating has a negative effect on men and women’s health. Divorced/separated/widowed women are healthier than single people, while there are no statistically significant results for divorced/separated/widowed men. Onwards, women and men are both mentally healthiest when married, and also mentally healthier when cohabitating as opposed to single people. Divorced/separated/widowed women are mentally healthier than single women, and there is no statistically significant result for separated/divorced/widowed men’s mental health effects. Finally, being married has a positive effect on men and women’s wellbeing. Similarly, cohabitating positively affects men and women’s wellbeing. There is no significant effect on wellbeing for men who are divorced/separated/widowed whereas there is a positive effect on divorced/separated/widowed women.
