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TILBURG, Netherlands – As the old saying goes: "Happy woman, happy life!" This adage may have to be replaced by "Happy woman (or husband), longer life! This is because a new study shows that having a happy spouse is linked to greater longevity.
In fact, researchers say that a woman's satisfaction in life predicts a person's lifespan even more than her or his own overall satisfaction.
"The data show that marital satisfaction was associated with mortality, regardless of the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the individual, or his or her physical health status," said the author of the study, Olga Stavrova, researcher at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands, in a statement to the Association for Psychological Science.
This is because people who are generally more dissatisfied are more likely to lead a healthier life. And when one spouse is mired in bad habits, the lifestyle of the other is often compromised. Conversely, having a more active spouse will probably push one of them to be as physically active.
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"If your partner is depressed and wants to spend the evening eating crisps in front of the television, that's when your evening will probably improve," says Stavrova.
For the study, Stavrova used data from 4,400 couples over the age of 50 in the United States who participated in an eight-year survey conducted by the National Institute on Aging. The couples were married or lived together and 99% were heterosexual. Over the course of eight years, participants reported satisfaction with life and life-course factors, such as the level of partner support and the frequency with which they live. 39, physical activity. They were also asked about their general health and other demographic information.
By the end of the study period, 16% of participants had died – mostly older men with lower incomes and education, less physical activity, and poorer overall health. However, the deceased participants also had lower life satisfaction, relationship satisfaction and a less satisfied life partner. Similarly, their spouses were also more likely to die over the eight-year period compared to the spouses of the surviving members.
"The results highlight the role of the immediate social environment of individuals in their health outcomes. More importantly, it could broaden our understanding of what constitutes the "social environment" of individuals by including the personality and well-being of their loved ones, "said Stavrova.
The results also show that even if a partner was happier at the beginning of the study period, but became less and less happy over time, the participant's risk of death increased more slowly than that of a person whose spouse was unhappy at first.
Stavrova believes that her findings indicate that it is not the support of the partners that plays a greater role in a person's life, but the life satisfaction of the partners.
"This research could have implications for issues such as the attributes we should pay attention to when selecting our spouse or partner and whether healthy lifestyle recommendations should target couples (or households) rather than individuals, "she says.
The study was published in Psychological science, a review of the Association for Psychological Science.
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