It is known that marriage is a beneficial factor among couples and is linked to reduced health risks, but a new study revealed otherwise on married women. The risk of frailty among widowed women is much lower compared to married ones, researchers suggest.
The researchers from the National Research Council's Institute of Neuroscience and the University of Padova discovered that widowed and single women are less likely to become frail than married women.
Using the data gathered among 1,887 women and men aged 65 and above who had been tracked down for four years, the researchers categorized each participant as frail if they met a minimum of three out of the five criteria.
The five criteria or "Fried criteria" include weight loss recorded from the previous 12 months, physical activity, measure of exhaustion, hand grip strength and the ability to walk in a short distance.
The researchers initially predicted that widowed women are more at risk of frailty compared to women who are married since marriage is typically accompanied with reduced health risks as well as death.
The study revealed that the benefits of marriages do not always apply to both genders, with married men reaping health benefits more than women. Unmarried women, on the other hand, scored lowest on the risk of frailty, a surprising outcome and opposed to what was predicted.
The researchers noted some points on the results. First, married men on the subject's population are likely to have vices and chronic illnesses such as cancer and diabetes. The men on the sample were also less likely to be educated as compared to men who were single or widowed.
Another point that the researchers noted is the population of participants in their study have lived much of their life in the time where the social norm looks at women who only stayed at home and do household chores.
The study's findings concluded those men who are never married or a widowed are more likely to have unintentional weight loss, acquire unhealthy body and physical performance as compared to those married ones. While widowed or single women are less prone to frailty.
"In fact, the presence of a wife may bring material benefits for men in terms of household management and healthcare, whereas women are more likely to feel stressed and find their role restrictive and frustrating," the researchers noted.
The study also suggested that married women are at high risk of frailty as compared to widowed or unmarried counterparts.
The researchers admit that their study has a lot of weakness including the social context of the participants in the study to the society's continuous change.
The study was published in the Journal of Women's Health.
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