To marry or not to marry: how does marital status determine Russian men's longevity?

Based on the data of the All-Russian sociological survey conducted as part of the project “Demographic Well-Being of Russia” in 2019-2020, we attempted to identify the relationship between attitudes toward longevity and the marriage status of Russian men considering their value orientations. The results of the analysis showed that the settings for the longest periods of desired life expectancy are demonstrated by men who are married and who also noted the high importance of all goals that are both directly and indirectly related to the family sphere. This can be considered as an argument in favor of the positive influence of marriage and family relations on subjectively desired life expectancy, and also as evidence of the cumulative effect on men’s self-preservation attitudes of having diverse goals and interests that lie both within and outside the family. However, attitudes toward the terms of desired life expectancy have maximum values also in the group of men who have never been married, but who noted the high importance of professional and personal goals. The results obtained and the regularities revealed on their basis do not allow us to draw unequivocal conclusions about the existence of a direct correlation between marital status and longevity attitudes, but allow us to talk about at least two life strategies with equal prospects in terms of increasing the life expectancy of Russian men.