Marriage: Sometimes In Sickness, More Often In Health

Add an amendment to the “in sickness and in health” clause that seals many marriages. Researchers at Iowa State University are convinced that if a wife gets sick, a marriage is more likely to end in divorce than if a husband gets sick. The Iowa State study, published in the March issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, found a 6 percent higher probability of divorce for couples in which wives got sick compared to marriages in which wives remained healthy. It also found that a husband’s illness did not increase the risk for divorce. What’s up with that? An Iowa State University news release quotes Amelia Karraker, lead author of the study, suggesting that the healthy spouse is often the primary caregiver and may have to take sole responsibility of managing the household. Karracker says quality of care is another factor. Wives are generally less satisfied with the care from their husbands. That’s because men, especially older men, have not been socialized to be caregivers in the same way women have, and are less comfortable in that role. Of the 2,701 marriages included in the study, 32 percent ended in divorce, and 24 percent ended in widowhood. The marriage data covered a nearly 20-year timeframe and one spouse had to be at least 51 years old at the beginning of that period.