Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Postbox 4404, Nydalen, 0403 Oslo, Norway.
Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Postbox 4404, Nydalen, 0403 Oslo, Norway ; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Postbox 1049, Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway.
BMC Psychol. 2015 May 1;3(1):13. doi: 10.1186/s40359-015-0072-5. eCollection 2015.
Poor health and health behaviors are associated with divorce. This study investigates the degree to which six health indicators and health behaviors among husbands and wives are prospectively related to divorce, and whether spousal similarities in these factors are related to a reduced risk of marital dissolution. Theoretically, a reduced risk is possible, because spousal similarity can help the couple's adaptive processes.
The data come from a general population sample (19,827 couples) and 15 years of follow-up data on marital dissolution. The following characteristics were investigated: Poor subjective health, obesity, heavy drinking, mental distress, lack of exercise, and smoking. Associations between these characteristics among husbands and wives and later divorce were investigated with Cox proportional hazards regression analyses.
All the investigated characteristics except obesity were associated with marital dissolution. Moreover, spousal similarities in four of these characteristics (heavy drinking, mental distress, no exercise, and smoking) reduced the risk of divorce, compared to the combined main effects of husbands and wives. Nevertheless, couples concordant in these health issues still had higher risks of divorce than couples without these characteristics.
Couples with similar health and health behavior are at a lower risk of divorce than are couples who are dissimilar in health. Health differences may thus be seen as vulnerabilities or stressors, supporting a health mismatch hypothesis. This study demonstrates that people who are similar to each other are more likely to stay together. Harmonizing partners' health behaviors may be a target in divorce prevention.
不良的健康状况和行为与离婚有关。本研究调查了丈夫和妻子的六个健康指标和健康行为在多大程度上与离婚有关，以及这些因素中配偶之间的相似性是否与降低婚姻破裂的风险有关。从理论上讲，风险降低是可能的，因为配偶之间的相似性可以帮助夫妻的适应过程。
数据来自一般人群样本（19827 对夫妇）和 15 年的婚姻解体随访数据。研究了以下特征：主观健康状况不佳、肥胖、酗酒、精神困扰、缺乏运动和吸烟。用 Cox 比例风险回归分析调查了丈夫和妻子之间这些特征与后来离婚之间的关系。
除肥胖外，所有调查的特征都与婚姻解体有关。此外，与丈夫和妻子的综合主要效应相比，这些特征中有四个（酗酒、精神困扰、缺乏运动和吸烟）的配偶相似性降低了离婚的风险。然而，与没有这些特征的夫妇相比，具有这些健康问题的夫妇的离婚风险仍然更高。
健康和健康行为相似的夫妇比健康状况不同的夫妇离婚的风险更低。因此，健康差异可能被视为脆弱性或压力源，支持健康不匹配假说。本研究表明，彼此相似的人更有可能在一起。协调伴侣的健康行为可能是预防离婚的一个目标。
