“…The married are reported to be mentally and physically healthier (Coombs, 1991), and marriage may particularly have psychological effects, which provide the individual with social support (Mastekaasa, 1993). Lower mortality has been reported for married persons (Kraus and Lilienfeld, 1959;Joseph and Syme, 1982), but this may be particularly true for men (Young et al, 1963, Rees andLutkins, 1967;Parkes et al, 1969;Ward, 1976;Jacobs and Ostfeld, 1977;Bowling, 1987), and for age groups younger than 60 years (Jacobs and Ostfeld, 1977;Seeman et al, 1987). In most studies, however, there has been no clear association between marital status and survival among cancer patients (Jacobs and Ostfeld, 1977;Koskenvuo et al, 1979, Mellstr0m et al, 1982Jones and Goldblatt, 1986;Kaprio et al, 1987).…”