New Study Suggests Health Risks After Divorce, Separation Could Contribute to Early Death

Prior research has suggested that divorce can negatively impact a person’s health, including higher risk for early death. A new study released by the University of Arizona appears to confirm this idea.

The study suggests two possible health outcomes resulting from divorce or separation that could contribute to premature death: a higher propensity for divorcees to smoke, and lower levels of physical activity. The study was published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Kyle Bourassa, psychology doctoral student and lead author of the study, mentioned how his team wanted to connect marital status and early mortality.

“We know marital status is associated with both psychological and physical health,” he said, “and one route from divorce to health risk is through health behaviors, like smoking and exercise. We also know that health behaviors are often linked to psychological variables, like life satisfaction.”

The researchers used information from a health study of adults over 50 years old in the United Kingdom called the English Longitudinal Study of Aging. They analyzed data from 5,786 participants, of whom 926 were divorced or separated and hadn’t remarried. All other participants were married. The study is comprised of seven sets of data, which were collected from participants every two years beginning in 2002.

Bourassa and his team compared numerous aspects of the subjects’ well-being, including self-reported life satisfaction, regularity of exercise and whether or not they smoked. They also recorded lung function and inflammation levels.

The researchers noted who had died during the study period. They found that people who had divorced or separated were 46 percent more likely to die during the study than those who were still married.

Study Results And Shortcomings

The study found that people who were divorced or separated reported lower levels of “life satisfaction.” This in turn contributes to lower frequency of physical activity and higher rates of smoking, two factors leading to greater risk of premature death. The researchers controlled for variables such as gender, age, socioeconomic status and self-reported health.

The researchers did not examine why divorce seems to cause less physical activity and higher smoking rates. One explanation could be that people are no longer held accountable for their healthy behaviors when there’s no spouse around.

“Partner control of health might play a role,” Bourassa said. “If you imagine a husband or wife who doesn’t smoke and their partner does, one might try to influence the other’s behavior. In many ways, when relationships end, we lose that important social control of our health behaviors.”

He adds that future studies need to account for other health factors like alcohol consumption and diet. Different marital statuses, for instance widowed people and those who’ve remarried, should also be looked at. Changes in behavior, such as someone quitting smoking or starting to smoke for the first time, need to be included in subsequent research as well.

Divorce also does not always lead to negative health consequences. Quality of life can improve for those who leave unhealthy relationships.

However, overall divorce is linked to poorer health after the fact. Low levels of exercise and high rates of smoking are risk factors which can ultimately lead to early death. Bourassa suggests we could use this knowledge to form interventions for people who’ve been through divorce or separations.

“This is a subgroup of people that are at greater risk for these poorer health behaviors,” Bourassa said, “so the goal might be to target them for interventions to hopefully improve their long-term health.”

Of course, no one is saying that divorce leads directly to premature death. However it can contribute to decorative health practices, which could lead to complications down the road.