Abstract
Social patterns of psychological distress were examined by using national probability sampling data in Japan (NFR98). Analyses of the relation between demographic variables and distress showed that distress was significantly high among people of young, women, unmarried and low income. Further analyses of the relation between marital status and distress by gender showed that unmarried men's distress was significantly higher than married men's, but such was not the case with women. Among women, distress of never married was not so different from that of married at least age 59 or younger. Analyses of remarried suggest that remarriage for divorced men reduces their distress, but for divorced women, their distress was worsen by their remarrying. These contrary results imply that marriage has significant beneficial effects for men, but not for women. These gender differences were thought to be engendered by sexual division of labor, that is women's provision of care, within both social and marital relationships.
