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06/03/2015

Couples More Likely To Divorce If The Wife Falls Ill – Study

Couples are more likely to divorce if the wife falls ill, because men are not able to cope the same with a poorly spouse, a new study has claimed

The research has been conducted by a team at Iowa State University, with the findings published in the Journal of Health and Social Behaviour.

The team followed 2,700 couples from the US, between 1992 to 2010, and discovered divorce levels were around the same between healthy couples, as well as those in which the husband had fallen ill.

However, when the woman was ill, the likelihood of divorce increased.

The couples who took part in the study were interviewed every two years and asked if either of them had been ill since their last session. Over the period, 32% of the group – or 859 couples – had seen their relationship end in divorce.

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For 24% of couples, one spouse had sadly died, while 44% of couples were still together by the end of the study. Researchers found though, that of the 965 couples wherein the woman had fallen ill, the rate of divorce increased by 6%.

On why this might be, Amelia Karraker, lead author and assistant professor in family studies at Iowa State University, said it could be down to the fact that men are not as aware as women when it comes to assuming the role of a caregiver.

She explained: "There is a difference between feeling too sick to make dinner and needing someone to actually feed you.

"That's something that can really change the dynamics within a marriage. If your spouse is too sick to work, we know that financial strain is a major predictor of divorce."

She added that some women could also be unhappy with their husbands' ability to be able to look after them.

"Life or death experiences may cause people to re-evaluate what is important in their lives. It could be that women are saying, 'You're doing a bad job of caring for me or I wasn't happy with the relationship to begin with, and I'd rather be alone than in a bad marriage'."

(JP/IT)

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"Couples are more likely to divorce if the wife falls ill, because men are not able to cope the same with a poorly spouse, a new study has claimed The research has been conducted by a team at Iowa St