Being married makes you kinder

MARRIAGE and going to church on Sunday may make you a better person, a study suggested.

Those who are married and religious were more likely to volunteer in the community.

Educated people with higher incomes were also keen to help others, according to a review of the types of people who volunteered.

New parents and people past middle age were less likely to take up volunteering, said academics at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, who analysed 24 studies on volunteering, which included British, American and European participants.

They suggested married people had more “social resources”, which some took to mean as marriage bringing more friends. A larger friendship group could make people care more about those around them, so encouraging them to volunteer. Churchgoers were likely to be presented with more religious volunteering opportunities.

The authors, led by Jacobien Niebuur, stated: “We found that socioeconomic status, being married, social network size, church attendance and previous volunteer experience were positively associated with volunteering.”

The results, they added, could help “target potential volunteers”, whom studies suggested were less likely to become depressed or disabled because of the health benefits of helping others.

The review found marriage was important in driving people to volunteer at a young age, with previous studies suggesting married couples volunteered together because their lives were intertwined. The new friends made through a spouse may also tell them about volunteering.

People with a larger social network were bigger volunteers, as were higher educated people, 11 out of 13 studies revealed. Older people were less likely to volunteer. The research, published in the journal BMC Public Health, said those in poor health were also less likely to, which may explain older people’s unwillingness.