I thought that it was interesting that the researchers categorized the Terman subjects based on the correlation between their marital status and age longevity. The authors speculated that both genders live shorter lives if they divorce. Even in the event of getting remarried, they are still prone to living shorter lives compared to the steadily married group. They attributed this to the stress of the divorce causing the individuals to have shorter lives. When I read this, two thoughts popped into my head.
- Is stress really that detrimental to our health that it could take years of our lives away due to one single stressful event? A divorce is an extremely difficult and heartbreaking process, but I did not think it held enough stress to cause an individual to lose years of their lives in the process.
- Could this longevity trend also be attributed to a long term relationship that ends up in a break up? Does it necessarily have to be a divorce?
- Maybe it is more of the emotional detachment of divorce that causes this supposed phenomenon rather than the actual legal divorce?
- If this correlation is true, of individuals who get divorced living shorter lives than individuals who are steadily married, why is this not apparent in celebrities? When we think of celebrities, we often think of the famous divorces and remarriages many of them have experienced. This may be biased, but I can think of tens of celebrities who have divorced and remarried and live long lives. For example, Hugh Hefner, a notorious man who has remarried several times, lived to the age of 91.