Reason #41,990 not to get married: you might turn into an alcoholic.

Okay, okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. But according to a new study, women are more likely to up their intake of booze after they get married, while their husbands actually drink less! The study, performed by Corinne Reczek of the University of Cincinnati, seems to show that married women drink more than any of their peers, whether single, divorced, or widowed.

Reczek believes this phenomenon is due to husbands and wives converging in their drinking habits after marriage, meaning men drink less and women begin drinking more.

Via New York Daily News:

Richard Ager, associate professor at New Orleans’ Tulane School of Social Work, says he isn’t surprised.

“People tend to do what others in the same flock do, if you spend more time with individuals that have a higher incidence of doing drugs or alcohol you will develop similar habits,” Ager told ABC News.

“People tend to engage in the behaviors of people they surround themselves with.”

As men stop hanging out with their hard-partying friends, then, and only spend time with their wives, they are likely to slow their drinking habits, with women doing the opposite to try and meet their husband’s ways. Even worse news, though, is the unfortunate finding that men are more likely to hit the bottle after a divorce, and women are more likely to “internalize” their sadness in the form of depression.

So, let’s get this straight: marriage makes women drink more, and makes men stop hanging out with their friends, which probably leads to divorce, which leads to men drinking more and women suffering from depression.

Man oh man, marriage sure seems like a blast!

img courtesy of BohoMamma