Health Differences Raise the Chances of Divorce
It has been suggested that poor health and health-related behaviors are associated with divorce. In this study, experiments were conducted with the aim of investigating the extent to which six health indicators and health behaviors between husbands and wives are positively associated with divorce, and whether spousal similarity in these factors is associated with a lower risk of marital dissolution, and the possibility that spousal similarity helps couples in their adjustment process and reduces the risk There is a
Data were collected from a
The following characteristics were examined from a general population sample (19,827 couples) and 15 years of follow-up data on marital dissolution
Poor subjective health
Obesity
Heavy drinking
Mental distress
Lack of exercise
Smoking
The association between these characteristics and subsequent divorce between husbands and wives was investigated by Cox proportional hazards regression analysis.
Results.
characteristics, except obesity, were found to be associated with marital divorce. Furthermore, spousal similarity in these four traits (heavy drinking, mental distress, no exercise, and smoking) was found to reduce the risk of divorce compared to the combined main effects of husband and wife.
Nonetheless, we also found that couples who were congruent on these health issues still had a higher risk of divorce than couples without these characteristics.
Conclusion.
We found that couples with similar health attitudes and behaviors have a lower risk of divorce than those without. Therefore, these differences could be considered as stressors, supporting the health discrepancy hypothesis.
This study shows that people who are similar to each other are more likely to stay together, and harmonizing health concerns among partners may be a goal in divorce prevention.
Torvik, F.A., Gustavson, K., Røysamb, E. et al. Health, health behaviors, and health dissimilarities predict divorce: results from the HUNT study. BMC Psychol 3, 13 (2015). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-015-0072-5
Summary
This study found that couples and couples who share similar health concerns are less likely to divorce. In other words, having a partner who has similar attitudes toward health may help predict the future of the relationship.
However, people who have more in common in terms of drinking, smoking, exercise habits, and health status may be less likely to view each other's relationship as stressful.These are things that make things like sharing your existing beliefs even easier to understand, so it may be easier for people who like those habits to be together.
