Bad marriages more damaging for women

Salt Lake City, March 5: A bad marriage can drain a woman of good health, says a new study. Women in strained marriages are more likely than men, to suffer high blood pressure, obesity, and cholesterol, said U.S. researchers on Thursday.

These physiological conditions, in addition to mental stress, eventually add up to "metabolic syndrome" that forms a major risk factor for heart disease.

The study involved more than 300 couples, who were made to answer questionnaires about their relationship and mental state and later asked to take lab tests.

Researchers found that though men were equally at risk of depressiondefine and stress, they did not show the same effect on physical health.

"We hypothesized that negative aspects of marriages like arguing and being angry would be associated with higher levels of metabolic syndrome," said Nancy Henry, a psychologist from the University of Utah.

"In other words, those who reported experiencing more conflict, hostility and disagreement with their spouses would more depressed, which in turn would be associated with a higher risk of heart disease due to metabolic syndrome.”

The hypothesis was found to be true, but only for the wives.

The reason for such variation between the two sexes is probably that women tend to be more relationship-oriented.

"We know by research that women tend to base their self-concept on relationships, how they are doing, how things are going for them,” said Henry. “And we think that's the reason we've shown that negative relationship issues seem to take a greater toll on women emotionally and physically."

Tim Smith, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah, says that men also take the hit of a stressful marriage but it just does not show as clearly on their body, as in the case of women.

A large body of research shows that divorce is associated with coronary calcification in both men and women, but "in our data, it's clear that the association of stress and heart health is stronger in women”, he said.

Depression is long known to lead to compromised physical activity and compulsive eating disorders but this is the first time I have seen this gender difference, that depression can affect women more than men", said Viola Vaccarino, MD, PhD, director of the cardiovascular outcomes program at Emory University in Atlanta.

Now, this should not make women wary of having relationships with men but they should be aware of the way it affects them.