将婚姻状态作为一种影响人类死亡和健康的因素来研究已是有一个多世纪的历史了。在今天,这种概念已经不再像当初那样带着离奇的色彩了。婚姻是一种有着其社会影响的人类自然状态。早在1858年,法国学者Farr W就认为婚姻是一种健康的自然状态,过单身生活的人要较之过夫妇生活更容易在生命过程中受到健康上的损害。他注意到年龄约在30～40岁年轻鰥夫的死亡率很高,当年过60岁时,其死亡不仅要比有妇之夫高,而且较从未结过婚的单身汉更多。Fart提出的这一事实对于进一步理解社会和环境因素对死亡影响这一问题很有说服力。 Studying marital status as a factor that affects human death and health is more than a century old. Today, the concept is no longer as bizarre as it used to be. Marriage is a natural state of mankind that has its social influence. As early as 1858, Farr W, a French scholar, considered marriage as a healthy and natural state. People who lived alone had more health damage in life than married couples. He noted the high mortality rate of young widowers aged between 30 and 40, and at the age of 60, death was not only higher than that of married women, but also more than that of unmarried singles. This fact put forward by Fart is very convincing for the further understanding of the impact of social and environmental factors on death.