Fish wives are keeping their men alive for longer.
But it’s layabout husbands who are an emotional drain on women with marriage being the last thing the fairer sex needs.
A recent US university study has provided unequivocal proof that‚ despite the headache if a man storms out of his marriage‚ the nagging may actually keep him alive for longer.
Also read: 10 celebrity couples who make marriage look fun (PHOTOS)
“Sometimes nagging is caring‚” says the study’s author‚ associate professor‚ Hui Liu.
Liu‚ of Michigan State University’s sociology department‚ said: “The study challenges the traditional assumption that negative marital quality is always detrimental to health.”
The study found that for men an unhappy marriage may actually slow the development of diabetes and promote successful treatment once they do get the disease.
Why? Because wives are constantly regulating their husband’s health behaviours‚ especially if he is in poor health or diabetic.
And while this may improve the husband’s health‚ it also can be seen as annoying and provoke hostility and emotional distress.
Its something South African relationship and sexologist specialist Dr Marlene Wasserman — Dr Eve — agrees with.
Wasserman said it was proven that men — who often die before their spouses — were not good at taking care of their health.
“Married men fare better in terms of healthcare and live longer than their single counterparts. It’s because they have partners who nag.”
On the flipside‚ said Wasserman‚ marriage is worse for women whose healthcare deteriorates because of being married.
“Marriage for women can be emotionally draining.”
For the study‚ published online in the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences‚ Liu and her colleagues analysed survey results from 1 228 married respondents over five years.
At the onset of the study‚ the respondents were 57 to 85 years old; 389 had diabetes at the end of the study.
In South Africa‚ an estimated 2.3-million known South Africans between the ages of 20 and 79 have Type 2 diabetes (lifestyle-related diabetes).
Liu investigated the role of marital quality in diabetes risk and management and found two major gender differences:
- The most surprising was that‚ for men‚ an increase in negative marital quality lowered the risk of developing diabetes and increased the chances of managing the disease after its onset. Diabetes requires frequent monitoring that the wives could be prodding the husband to do‚ boosting his health‚ but also increasing marital strain over time.
- For women‚ a good marriage was related to a lower risk of being diabetic five years later. Women may be more sensitive than men to the quality of a relationship and more likely to experience a health boost from a good-quality relationship.
– TMG Digital/The Times
To have and to scold…in sickness and in health
Fish wives are keeping their men alive for longer.
But it’s layabout husbands who are an emotional drain on women with marriage being the last thing the fairer sex needs.
A recent US university study has provided unequivocal proof that‚ despite the headache if a man storms out of his marriage‚ the nagging may actually keep him alive for longer.
Also read: 10 celebrity couples who make marriage look fun (PHOTOS)
“Sometimes nagging is caring‚” says the study’s author‚ associate professor‚ Hui Liu.
Liu‚ of Michigan State University’s sociology department‚ said: “The study challenges the traditional assumption that negative marital quality is always detrimental to health.”
The study found that for men an unhappy marriage may actually slow the development of diabetes and promote successful treatment once they do get the disease.
Why? Because wives are constantly regulating their husband’s health behaviours‚ especially if he is in poor health or diabetic.
And while this may improve the husband’s health‚ it also can be seen as annoying and provoke hostility and emotional distress.
Its something South African relationship and sexologist specialist Dr Marlene Wasserman — Dr Eve — agrees with.
Wasserman said it was proven that men — who often die before their spouses — were not good at taking care of their health.
“Married men fare better in terms of healthcare and live longer than their single counterparts. It’s because they have partners who nag.”
On the flipside‚ said Wasserman‚ marriage is worse for women whose healthcare deteriorates because of being married.
“Marriage for women can be emotionally draining.”
For the study‚ published online in the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences‚ Liu and her colleagues analysed survey results from 1 228 married respondents over five years.
At the onset of the study‚ the respondents were 57 to 85 years old; 389 had diabetes at the end of the study.
In South Africa‚ an estimated 2.3-million known South Africans between the ages of 20 and 79 have Type 2 diabetes (lifestyle-related diabetes).
Liu investigated the role of marital quality in diabetes risk and management and found two major gender differences:
- The most surprising was that‚ for men‚ an increase in negative marital quality lowered the risk of developing diabetes and increased the chances of managing the disease after its onset. Diabetes requires frequent monitoring that the wives could be prodding the husband to do‚ boosting his health‚ but also increasing marital strain over time.
- For women‚ a good marriage was related to a lower risk of being diabetic five years later. Women may be more sensitive than men to the quality of a relationship and more likely to experience a health boost from a good-quality relationship.
– TMG Digital/The Times
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