Researchers at John Hopkins University, as well as the University of Chicago recently conducted a study of 8,700 currently married people who had been divorced at one time. They found that these subjects, aged 51 to 61, had a 12% higher incidence of bad health and chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or cancer than married individuals who were never previously divorced.

In addition, the study’s subjects had a 19% increase in mobility limitations, such as difficulty climbing stairs.

The study concluded that filing for divorce was even harmful to those who tried marriage a second time.
The researchers similarly found that subjects who were still divorced and never remarried or were widowed experienced 20% more chronic health conditions and 23% more mobility limitations in comparison to those never divorced in the first place.

Obviously divorce and child custody negotiations can cause stress levels to rise significantly, which is proven to negatively impact health.

It should be noted that subjects never previously married had a 12% increase in mobility limitations and 13% more depression-related symptoms. However, no difference was shown in chronic health conditions when compared with married subjects.

Gender Inequality in the Physical Toll of Divorce

In a different study conducted at the University of Utah, researchers found that women in unhappy marriages are more likely to experience injurious effects to their health than men.

Although both genders are likely to suffer from general depression resulting from a strained marriage, women more frequently suffer from signs of “metabolic syndrome”: including high blood pressure, obesity and other risk factors of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

In fact, men for the most part did not face an increased risk of metabolic syndrome at all.

Involving 276 couples aged 40 to 70, the study entailed couples filling out several questionnaires, including three to examine positive aspects of marriage quality; three to measure negative aspects of marital quality involving arguments and feelings of hostility; and four to determine symptoms of mild depression.

Source: CTV National News

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