A new long-term study has found something unexpected: older adults who are divorced or never married may actually have a lower risk of developing dementia than those who are married.
This challenges the long-held belief that being married helps protect brain health in later life.
The study was led by researchers from Florida State University College of Medicine and the University of Montpellier and published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
It followed more than 24,000 people over a period of up to 18 years. All participants were older adults who did not have dementia when the study began.
They were tracked through annual evaluations at more than 40 Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers across the U.S., where trained medical professionals assessed their cognitive health using consistent standards.
Participants were grouped based on their marital status at the start of the study: married, widowed, divorced, or never married. Over the study period, 20.1% of the entire group developed dementia.
Among married people, the rate was higher—21.9%.
The same percentage was seen in those who were widowed. But for people who were divorced, only 12.8% developed dementia, and for those who had never married, the rate was even lower at 12.4%.
Even after accounting for differences in age, gender, health conditions, lifestyle habits, and genetic risks, the findings remained clear: divorced and never-married individuals had a significantly lower risk of developing dementia compared to those who were married.
Widowed participants initially showed a similar trend, but the effect disappeared after adjusting for health and other factors.
The researchers also looked at different types of dementia. Married individuals were more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia than those who were divorced or never married.
However, marital status didn’t seem to have a strong link to other forms like vascular dementia or frontotemporal dementia.
Additionally, unmarried participants were less likely to move from mild cognitive impairment to full-blown dementia during the study period.
Interestingly, the reduced risk of dementia for divorced and never-married individuals held steady across different age groups, genders, levels of education, and genetic backgrounds. This consistency strengthens the findings and suggests the relationship between marital status and dementia risk may be more complex than previously thought.
These results go against earlier studies that assumed being married provided protection against dementia. The researchers believe their study offers a clearer picture because it used high-quality, standardized cognitive testing done by trained professionals each year.
While more research is needed to understand why these differences exist, this study shows that not being married in later life doesn’t necessarily mean higher risk for dementia. In fact, for many, it may be the opposite.
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