Parents Live Longer Than Childless Couples, Study Shows

Researchers seek reasons

Childless couples don’t live as long as parents, according to a new study. However, the childlessness studied is not of those who choose to be without kids; it was of those who want to but have tried using different methods like adoption or fertility treatments. “Several previous studies have found strong associations between childlessness and psychiatric illness,” said Esben Agerbo, who led the study. They looked at data on 21,276 childless couples who registered for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment between 1994 and 2005. During this time, they found that four times as many women who did not have children died as women who had or adopted a child. Death rates were twice as high among the men who did not have children. Agerbo suggests a behavioral difference as the reason, saying, “Parents are less likely to die from accidents, circulatory diseases, cancer, and external causes." Additionally, "When you have kids, it completely changes the way you live your life. I suspect that is what going on,” said Alice Domar, a psychologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. (Today)

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