Because there isn’t enough pressure on people to get married already, a new study has just given mothers of single men and women more fodder for nagging.

David Roelfs is the lead author on a paper released in the current issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology that says singles (men and women who have never married) are more likely to die sooner than their married friends.

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Across their lifetime, bachelors have a risk of death (called the “hazard ratio” in the study) that is 32-per-cent higher than it is for married men. And all the single ladies don’t fare much better. Bachelorettes have a 23-per-cent increase in mortality risk than married maidens, according to the research.

In “worst-case scenarios,” Dr. Roelfs told MSNBC, men could die about eight to 17 years earlier (for women, it’s seven to 15 years earlier).

To get these numbers, the researchers studied 95 previous papers, ranging as far back as 1912, that cumulatively examined 500 million people, making this a meta-study that encompasses almost a century of work done to prove the dangers of singledom.

The paper also reveals that while single men and women face similar threats of dying sooner, woman have seen a greater increase over time. In other words, their hazard ratio has seen a sharp rise in the last 50 years.

A number of socio-economic factors could be contributing to this specific finding, researchers say.

“With the concurrent decline in public assistance, health benefits and the family wage in Western societies, single women are more economically and medically marginalized now than in previous years and are therefore at a higher risk for health problems and early death,” the authors write.

In other words: If these women had a husband, they would also have more money and better access to benefits.

So it seems that what this study is really saying is that there are still a number of structural barriers in most societies that not only make a single lifestyle “abnormal” – but also unhealthy.

But don’t get too smug, married folk. There are also studies that show that bad marriages are damaging to your health. And even in emotionally stable unions partners can pick up on their spouse’s bad habits, such as eating junk food.

What do you think of these results? Do you think single people are unfairly singled out in some studies?

Marriage can be good for your blood pressure, a new study suggests - but only if it's a happy union.

Happily married people scored an average of four points lower on blood-pressure tests than single people, even those singles who enjoy a rich social network. But singles have healthier blood pressure than people in unhappy marriages, according to research published today in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

"It's the quality of the marriage, not being married per se," said lead researcher Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a psychology professor at Brigham Young University.

For the study, 204 married and 99 single adults wore portable monitors that measured their blood pressure at random intervals throughout the day and night.

Dr. Holt-Lunstad said she was surprised to discover that single people with a strong network of friends and relatives still had higher blood-pressure rates than happily married people. Single people tended to have higher blood pressure at night, which indicates an increased risk of cardiovascular problems.

"One of the things that seems to give the spousal relationship special status compared to other relationships is there seems to be a greater level of commitment or intimacy," Dr. Holt-Lunstad said.

Even good friendships, her research indicates, don't deliver the same health benefits as a spouse - or, perhaps, a live-in romantic partner. Dr. Holt-Lunstad's research looked only at married couples and single people who were not living with anyone, so she doesn't know whether the blood-pressure benefits are the same for couples who are happily shacking up.