ents
For most men a nagging wife can be little more
than an irritation, but the arguments and worries
that stem from a demanding partner may actually
be a health hazard.
New research has found that the burden of a
demanding partner is linked to hundreds of extra
deaths each year.
Men who were subjected to 'nagging', constant
demands and worries from their partners, were 2.5
as likely to die within ten years than those with
less stressful relationships.
The effect is so strong it could account for
hundreds of deaths a year, the researchers
suggested.
However women may be more immune to nagging
as there was little effect on their death rates, it was
found.
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The researchers calculated that around 315 extra
deaths per 100,000 people per year could be
caused by spousal demands and worries, they
said.
Stress is known to have physical effects on health,
increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke
while it also encourages poor habits such as
eating junk food and lack of exercise which
exacerbate the problem.
The researchers said men tend to respond to
stress with higher levels of the hormone cortisol
which is known to be linked to poor health.
Stud author, Dr Rikke Lund, Section of Social
Medicine, Department of Public Health, at
University of Copenhagen, said: "Men also have
fewer people in their social network than women
who tend to share their problems and worries with
more people.
"Their partner is more important to them in a
relatively small social network.
"It is interesting that we have identified that males
who are exposed to worries and demands by their
partners have higher mortality and are the ones we
should focus on. We tend to struggle to reach this
group with public health interventions and maybe
we should be focused less on the individual and
more on social networks as a whole."
The study suggested that going to work could
provide relief and mitigate the effects of a stressful
relationship with a partner as men who were
unemployed and frequently nagged were even
more likely to die.
The combined effect of frequent demands and
worries from a partner and being out of work could
account for an extra 462 deaths per 100,000
people per year, it was calculated.
The findings were published in the Journal of
Epidemiology & Community Health .
Previous studies have found that strong emotional
support from family and friends is good for health
and this is one of the first studies to look at the
reverse.
Danish researchers questioned almost 10,000 men
and women aged 36 to 52 about their everyday
social relationships, asking who made excessive
demands, prompted worries or was a source of
conflict and how often these situations occured.
The participants were tracked for ten years during
which time 196 women, four per cent, died along
with 226 men, six per cent.
Almost half of the deaths were from cancer,
followed by heart disease and stroke, liver disease,
accidents and suicide.
Around one in 10 study participants said that their
partner or children were a frequent or constant
source of excess demands and worries.
Similarly, six per cent had frequent arguments with
their partner or children.
As any parent can atest to, constant demands and
worries from children seemed to increase the risk
of early death by around 50 per cent. But worries
and demands from other relatives, friends and
neighbours had no effect.
Constant arguments and conflicts were the most
dangerous, it was found, regardless of who was the
source.
Those who always or often fought with their
partner were twice as likely to die, those who
fought with friends were 2.5 times more likely to
die and frequent fights with neighbours was linked
with a three-fold increased chance of death within
ten years.
Similarly, frequent arguments with a partner and
being unemployed may produce an extra 830
deaths per 100,000 people per year, it was
suggested.
The researchers said personality traits probably
played a role in how people cope with stress and
this in turn may affect their choice of partner and
friends.
They said that teaching conflict management may
help reduce premature deaths.
Prof Carmine Pariante, prof of biological psychiatry
at the Institute of Psychiatry King's College London
said women are better at recognising they are
stressed and seek help amongst their wider circle
of social support they have.
"This study shows the assumption that men are
more resiliant to stress is incorrect.
"Conflict is at the clearer end of the stressful event
spectrum and is probably recognised by men and
women alike as being difficult so they seek help
and talk to their friends about it.
"But a chronic level of low stress, like this nagging,
is not enough for men to seek help. This low level
of stress is enough to affect mortality because it
can impact on cortisol levels and the immune
system, you do not need to have an earthquake or
terror attack for stress to have an effect on
physical health."
He added that men also have a cultural role to
play as the breadwinner and must be seen by
society as manly and coping with life which
exacerbates the problem when they are
unemployed.
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