This new study explains why I'm drunk AF every weekend.
According to new research, there is "strong evidence that intimate relationships cause a decline in alcohol consumption."
Diana Dinescu, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, writes in the Journal of Family Psychology that married people have a ton of benefits that single people do not, including the newfound fact that married people drink less than people who are single or divorced.
The study analyzed the drinking habits of 2,425 twins of the same sex, and compared them to those of twins who were single or divorced, as well cohabiting twins. The co-twins who were married both drank less frequently and drank fewer alcoholic beverages than their single co-twin counterparts.
There might be a loophole in the findings, though. For example, it could very well be possible that those who don't drink much are just more likely to get married, not the other way around.
Still, there has to be a reason for why married people are less inclined to go for a drink. Dinescu points out that husbands and wives “may monitor each other's behavior, support positive coping, alter each other's values and encourage delayed gratification more generally.” Married people also probably spend less time out and more time at home.
Married co-twins drank less frequently and fewer alcoholic beverages than their single counterparts.
I guess that makes sense. Single people don't necessarily have other people looking out for them and their alcohol consumption. If anything, friends are enablers of my drinking habits.
This study only confirms research we found last week, which found that single people spend way more money per month than people in relationships do (specifically, about $630). That's partly because single people drink about three times as much as coupled-up folks.
The researchers boiled this conclusion down to the fact that couples usually split the drink bills when they go out, while single people have to fend for themselves (unless, of course, you're skilled and can get guys to buy you drinks all the time).
So, if you find a partner you love enough to marry, you can bet on the fact you won't wake up hungover all the time. I know, I know, finding the love of your life is way harder than it sounds.
