| Friday, July 01, 2005 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SOCIOLOGIST: DIVORCE CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH |
Whom you live with and whether you're single, married, divroced or widowed can offer clues to you health decades later, research sugests.
Experts comparing the health and well being of varied states of pairing and singledom have found that living with aging parents or grandchildren takes a toll on adultsd health. And the research shows that any disruption to marriage, such as divorce or a spouse's death, can have repercussions years later.
"Talk about a scar on people's health", Linda Waite, a University of Chicago sociologist and author, told about 1,700 marital therapist, marriage educators and others at the ninth annual Smart Marriages conference in Dallas.
LIVING WITH PARENTS OR GRANDKIDS A MINUS.
Waite says marriage's benefits derive from social connection, risk sharing, specialization of household tasks and economies of scale.
Waite is among researchers who offered new findings about relationships to an audience made up largely of those who help couples through trying times.
Her analysis is an update of research published five years ago in her book "The Case of Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financiallly." Now, she has re-analyzed data from more than 8,600 people ages 51 to 61 to look more deeply into physical and mental health, as well as physiological functioning.
Divorce or widowhood creates stress which is associated with chronic health problems, she says. Couples who live alone or with their own children have equal health advantages. But couples or singles living with parents or grandkids show damaging effects on physical, emotional and cognitive health. She says researchers presume the stress of caregiving is responsible for the effects, but more research is needed.
But a happy remarriage offers about the same health benefits as an undisrupted one, she says.
( Abstracted from :Gannett News Service by: Sharon Jayson) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 2:16 PM |
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Name: infraternam meam
Home: Chicago, United States
About Me: I am now at the prime of my life
and have been married for the past 25 years.
Sickly at times, but wants to see the elixir vita,
so that I will be able to see my grandchildren from my two boys.
See my complete profile
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