Divorce and death: forty years of the Charleston Heart Study.

Full Abstract

Forty years of follow-up data from the Charleston Heart Study (CHS) were used to examine the risk for early mortality associated with marital separation or divorce in a sample of more than 1,300 adults assessed on several occasions between 1960 and 2000. Participants who were separated or divorced at the start of the study evidenced significantly elevated rates of early mortality, and these results held after adjusting for baseline health status and other demographic variables. Being separated or divorced throughout the CHS follow-up window was one of the strongest predictors of early mortality. However, the excess mortality risk associated with separation or divorce was completely eliminated when participants who had ever experienced a marital separation or divorce during the study were compared with all other participants. These findings suggest that a key predictor of early death is the amount of time people live as separated or divorced. It is possible that the mortality risk conferred by marital dissolution is due to dimensions of personality that predict divorce as well as a decreased likelihood of future remarriage.

Author information

Author/s: Sbarra, David A (DA); Nietert, Paul J (PJ);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0068, USA. sbarra(-atsign-)email.arizona.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS (Psychol Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jan; vol 20 (issue 1) : pp 107-13

Dates: Created 2009/01/20; Completed 2009/05/11;

PMID: 19076315, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 5/11/2009)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MeSH Headings (categories) shown below.

Adult
Aged
Cardiovascular Diseases - mortality; psychology
Cause of Death
Cohort Studies
Divorce - psychology; statistics & numerical data
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans

Note: Bold headings indicate primary MeSH headings or qualifiers.

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