A new research discovers that parents with children live longer than childless couples who tried, an effect especially observed in women. It appears parenthood is good for both physical and mental health.
The study published this Wednesday in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health looked at more than 21,276 couples registered for IVF treatment in Denmark. The data on births and deaths from 1994 to 2008 showed that the risk of death before the end of the study was four times bigger in women who remained childless, compared to those with children. The rates of death doubled in men who didn’t become fathers.
According to the results, couples who adopted children live longer, as well as those who had their own. Compared to childless ones, the adoptive mothers and fathers were respectively 33% and 45% less likely to die. The scientists calculated that, although mental health sickness rates were the same in childless parents and those who had their own biological children, the rates in adoptive couples were down in half.
Factors like drug and alcohol addiction were not taken into consideration, others like and age, income, education or underlying illness had only slightest effects on the results.
In another research before that, a connection between parenthood and death rates was discovered. Although couples with two kids were reported with the lowest risk of premature death, raising kids wasn’t proved as a cause for longer life.
Researchers also point out that the new study offers another perspective to the connection between health and parenthood – all of the observed couples were seeking treatment for infertility.
There are some explanations why adoptive parents have higher survival rates and better mental health. This is mainly because they had to pass physical and mental tests before they were allowed to adopt a child. And those parents, who couldn’t have children, probably suffered mental illnesses because of their depression caused by the failed attempts.
