By leaving their partner or partner, divorced people sometimes put their health at risk. They are said to be more likely to smoke and quit the gym, compared to those who remain married.
More than 123,000 divorces were pronounced in France in 2015 according to INSEE. It is not always easy to live with, which sometimes even has repercussions on health. Scientists are increasingly interested in this phenomenon. Researchers from the University of Arizona put forward two explanatory factors, the new divorced would tend to smoke more and to do less sport. Their results were published in Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
In total, the US researchers used data from 5,786 people, 926 of whom were divorced. They were all over 50 years old. To establish their results, they studied their level of exercise, lung function, level of inflammation, their connection to smoking and their self-rated satisfaction with their life.
A higher risk of early mortality
Divorced people tend to report less satisfaction with their life. This was especially the case for women. For researchers, this can lead to a decrease in physical activity and therefore a higher risk of early mortality. Divorced people were also more likely to smoke, and to have poorer lung health. They had a 46% increased risk of dying during the study, compared to other still-married participants.
The loss of social control of the partner
Researchers haven’t investigated the causes of these behavioral differences, but Kyle Bourassa, one of the authors, has his theory: “Partner control of health status might play a role. husband or wife does not smoke, but his partner does, he will surely try to influence the behavior of the other. When the relationship ends, we lose this important social control over our health behaviors. “
Obviously, these results are not valid for all individuals, for some on the contrary, a divorce can lead to a better quality of life. This is the case when the relationship was not healthy. Further research should also be carried out to find out whether these results are valid for young divorcees.
Children also affected
In 2017, another study was carried out to analyze the consequences of a divorce on the health of children. She showed that children of divorced parents were more prone to infections. This only applies to cases where the divorce goes wrong. The stress suffered during childhood would therefore have an impact on the health of these young people who have become adults.
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