We hear of celebrities like Madonna, Demi Moore and Jennifer Lopez dating younger men. We’ve also heard the saying, “age is just a number.” But does it really matter? According to new research, it does.
Sven Drefahl at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock, Germany, found that women who marry younger men are expected to shorten their life expectancy while men who marry younger women has the opposite effect.
Drefahl’s study published in the journal of Demography stated that, “Women marrying a partner seven to nine years younger increased their mortality risk by 20 per cent,” while “the mortality risk of a husband who is seven to nine years older than his wife is reduced by 11 per cent.”
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This begs the question: Why or how is this possible?
“One of the few possible explanations is that couples with younger husbands violate social norms and thus suffer from social sanctions,” Drefahl said.
A possibility is that because of the age gap, it is perceived as a less normal relationship, making the couple feel like outsiders and as a result, they receive a lack of social support from family and friends.
Others suggest that older wives are more stressed out worrying about their younger beaus. Insecurities, perhaps?
Drefahl says these theories still have to be reconsidered.
In the MPIDR press release, women in general are still in the clear because worldwide, “their life expectancy exceeds of men by a few years.”
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