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Statistics Parents have a much longer life expectancy than childless people
A new study from Sweden shows that parents live longer than childless people. Nevertheless, it can not be concluded that children have life-prolonging effects. The reason may be that mothers and fathers are simply healthier.
Humans are getting older
Humans are getting older. Only recently, a study was published showing that life expectancy in western industrialized countries could rise to over 90 years by 2030. It is known that factors such as an unhealthy diet have a negative impact, while a healthy lifestyle increases life expectancy. A new study showed that parenting is associated with longer life expectancy.
According to a new study from Sweden, parents live longer than childless people. Parenthood is therefore associated with a longer life expectancy, especially at a higher age. (Image: Monkey Business / fotolia.com) Parents have a longer life expectancy
There are moments when fathers and mothers remember the exhausting moments of their parents' life: the lack of sleep during the baby years, the annoying whining of their toddlers, the rebellions of the offspring in childhood and the stressful time of puberty.
However, scientists from Sweden now point out to all those affected in a study that parenting is worthwhile because it goes hand in hand with a longer life expectancy - especially at a higher age.
As the researchers from the Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University report in the journal "Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health", the average gain in life expectancy by the age of 60 years for people with children is about two years compared to childless people.
Support for adult children
"It is known that the mortality rate of parents is lower than that of childless people. The support of adult children could be important for parental health and longevity, "the study authors write.
He continued: "The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between having a child and the risk of death and to assess whether this relationship is increasing in old age, as the health deteriorates and the need for family member support increases."
To reach their results, the researchers studied the lifetime of a total of 1.4 million women and men born between 1911 and 1925 in Sweden.
Difference becomes particularly clear in advanced age
According to the news agency AFP, a distinction was made between childless and people with offspring, as well as married and unmarried people.
The researchers found that people who had at least one child had a lower risk of dying, with men in absolute terms getting off better than women.
"At the age of 60, the difference in life expectancy was two years for men and one and a half for women," the researchers write.
And 80-year-old fathers could therefore hope for seven years and eight months lifetime, while childless peers remained only seven years. Nine-and-a-half years were possible for mothers of the same age, while their peers on average only had eight years and eleven months.
Both married and unmarried people with children had higher life expectancy. According to the information, the difference was particularly striking in old, single-parent, childless men.
Having children does not have a life-prolonging effect
However, the authors acknowledged that the study only related different factors. It can not be concluded that children have life-prolonging per se.
According to the information, other factors could also be considered. For example, it may be considered that parents may have benefited from the financial support of their children in their old age, or had a healthier lifestyle altogether than did infants.
It is said that the researchers have not been able to confirm the findings of earlier studies that say that daughters are even more beneficial to life expectancy than sons. (Ad)