Heartbreak, In More Ways Than One, for Women in Bad Marriages

Women who are in stressful marriages may be suffering with heartaches, in more ways than one. Not all marriages are "made in heaven," resulting in some very stressful situations. It seems these stressful marriages are not only causing depression, but also resulting in women having higher risks of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Many women hope for the perfect marriage with a loving husband, nice home, a family, peaceful dinners,  and joyful vacations together. However, we do not always get what we sign up for. Many marriages have rocky times, especially when partners cannot seem to agree on things such as goals in life, parenting, money issues, and time spent at home. In today’s economic environment, many families and couples are facing new challenges and hard times that we haven’t before, which may lead to some stressful relationships that in years past had not been troubled. Based on new research, stress from a trying marriage may lead to even bigger health problems, in addition to stress and depression.

Based on new research performed by a group of psychologists with the University of Utah, stressful marriages are leading to heart problems, strokes, and diabetes in women. Even though men did show signs of depression during the study, they did not seem to take marriage problems to heart as much as the women, avoiding some of the more serious side effects.

For the study, the psychologists recruited 276 married couples. The couples had been married an average of 20 years and ranged in ages from 40 to 70. Each couple completed a questionnaire designed to evaluate the good and bad aspects of the couple’s marriages. They were asked questions regarding emotional and mutual support, frequency of arguments, and the extent of arguments regarding sex, kids, and money. Based on symptoms that each participant reported, they were rated as to how depressed they were. Then each participant was evaluated, by doctors to determine if they were showing any symptoms of metabolic syndrome that could lead to an increased risk of heart problems, stroke and diabetes.

According to lead author, Nancy Henry, a doctoral student in psychology, at the University of Utah, both partners in many of the troubled marriages were found to be depressed, more often compared to the happy couples. The women involved in the trying marriages were more likely to develop symptoms of metabolic syndrome, which raises the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Henry said, both men and women were as likely to become depressed with marital strain, but the link between negativity, depression and metabolic syndrome seemed, to only apply for the women. Metabolic syndrome in women was caused by the depression. Some of the symptoms for metabolic syndrome are excess belly fat, elevated blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, elevated blood sugar levels and low HDL, or good cholesterol levels. Metabolic syndrome is diagnosed when three of the five symptoms are present.

Marriages are many times trying and it seems based on the new research, those trying times may cause more harm to women than men. According to Nancy Henry, "Women seem to be more relationship oriented." She said, "We know by research that women tend to base their self-concept on relationships, how they are doing, how things are going for them and we think that's the reason we've shown that negative relationship issues seem to take a greater toll on women emotionally and physically." Nancy also added, "The gender difference is important because heart disease is the number-one killer of women as well as men, and we are still learning a lot about how relationship factors and emotional distress are related to heart disease." According to Tim Smith, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of Utah, who is heading a larger University of Utah study on the role of marriage quality in heart disease, says it is too soon to say that stress could make women more vulnerable to physical problems compared to men, even if the latest research suggests it.

Women, work to remove stress from your life and marriage, try to avoid controversy if you can, exercise and eat healthy, it could help you live a longer healthier life.