(AgapePress) - A Christian marriage expert says a new Australian study on marriage affirms what many pro-family advocates have known for years.

According to New Scientist Magazine, the idea that men benefit from being part of a couple while women suffer all the stress has taken a blow. An Australian study shows that women, as well as men, benefit from marriage and get a mental health boost from being part of a married couple.

David de Vaus of Latrobe University in Melbourne found that 25% of single men and women were "miserable" -- but only 13% of married men and women suffer from stress. Of 10,000 adults surveyed in 1996, married women with children had the fewest mental health problems.

Glenn Stanton is the senior research analyst for marriage and sexuality at Focus on the Family. He says the new study should come as no surprise. "The overwhelming weight of evidence over the past hundred years, looking at the health status of human beings, shows that marital status has a big impact, both for men and women," he says.

According to Stanton, marriage provides rich benefits for men and women in different, but essentially equal, ways. "Very seldom do social sciences come to such conclusive findings as it has on the health benefits of marriage for adults -- and for children, as well."

Stanton, author of the book Why Marriage Matters, says happiness comes from seeking the well-being of others. "People who are in a married relationship are in that relationship seeking, ideally, the happiness of the other person," he says.

"The same thing with parents seeking the happiness of their children. And somehow, out of that comes a greater happiness than what we typically see on shows like Friends or Seinfeld, where these people are seeking their own happiness -- and that kind of happiness is oftentimes elusive."

The author says whether they realize it or not, scientists are finding out that God's plan for humanity is the right way to live.

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