Research Probes Toll of Marital Stress

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Misty L. Trepke

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Research probes toll of marital stress

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A slew of new research during the past few years shows that marital

stress can play a significant role in a person's overall health --

increasing risk for everything from chronic pain to a heart attack.

But a low-stress marriage can increase survival chances when a

health problem strikes.

 

While it's long been known that people who are married tend to be

healthier and live longer than unmarried people, scientists are

increasingly turning their attention to whether the quality of the

marriage matters. Some of the resulting studies have shown that the

risk of a bad marriage is as strong as other medical risks. Among

patients who suffered congestive heart failure, those with good

marriages were more likely to survive. One study linked marital

distress to dangerous thickening of the heart wall, just like

smoking.

 

 

And while we've long known that stress is a major risk factor for

many health problems, marital stress appears to be a bigger hazard

than other types of stress simply because it's so personal.

 

 

" You can't escape marital stress the way you can other types of

stress, " says Annmarie Cano, assistant psychology professor at Wayne

State University in Detroit and author of a January study on the

links between chronic pain and marriage stress. " Most people think

of marriage as a comfort zone and a place where you can relax, but

when that is stressed, there is no safe haven. "

 

 

The problem is, many people aren't aware how much their marriage is

affecting stress levels. Studies have shown that arguments in

couples who have been married for decades can increase stress

hormones that weaken the immune system. Research has linked stress

hormones with a number of health problems, making a person more

susceptible to illness, slowing wound-healing and even interfering

with the effectiveness of a vaccine.

 

 

The most surprising research has focused on a group of newlyweds,

who, by all accounts, seemed happy, even " blissful " in their

relationships. But Ohio State University researchers asked the 90

couples to answer questions about their marriage, videotaped them

discussing a stressful topic and took blood samples to measure

hormones known to inhibit or enhance the immune system. The couples

who appeared to become the most agitated and hostile in the

videotapes were more likely to see increases in hormones that weaken

the immune system. Levels of an immune-boosting hormone also

dropped.

 

 

Years later, researchers found the couples who eventually divorced

had shown significant elevation in three of four immune-weakening

hormones. Because those changes were detected in newlyweds, the

research shows that not only did the hormones predict divorce risk,

but the study also showed that marital stress, long before it's

obvious, can have a measurable impact on immune-system health.

 

 

The same researchers are now studying the role of marital stress on

wound healing. The researchers are inflicting small pea-size

blisters on the arms of each spouse, studying whether positive

interaction with each other can lead to faster healing by lowering

the stress hormone cortisol. Stress hormones can slow the delivery

of compounds that start the healing process.

 

 

" Marriage stress is unique because it basically takes what should be

your primary source of support and makes it your primary stress, "

says Professor Janice Kiecolt-Glaser of Ohio State.

 

 

This month, the Harvard Men's Health Watch newsletter examined the

relationship between marital stress and heart health, highlighting a

study of 72 patients who answered questions on the Dyadic Adjustment

Scale, a widely used test used to assess marital stress.

 

 

The study showed that marital distress was linked with a thickening

of the left ventricle of the heart, as seen on an echocardiogram,

just like smoking and excessive drinking. But job stress didn't have

the same effect.

 

 

How much you interact with your spouse in a good or bad marriage can

also influence your health. The same study found that among people

in unhappy marriages, those who spent less time with a spouse had

lower blood pressure than those who had lots of contact. Among those

in good marriages, people who spent a lot of time with their spouse

had even lower blood pressure.

 

 

" You can measure the physiological effect of a stressful

interpersonal relationship, " says Harvard Professor Harvey B. Simon,

editor of the newsletter.

 

 

Dr. Simon, an internist, says he spends a lot of time talking to

patients about their personal lives and stress levels. He urges them

to exercise, meditate, pursue hobbies and other activities that make

them happy and seek personal or marriage counseling.

 

 

But while it's clear that a bad marriage can drastically increase

stress, it's not yet known whether it's better, in terms of overall

health, to try to improve a troubled relationship or to get a

divorce -- which itself is an extremely stressful life event.

 

 

Even in good marriages, the way a couple interacts appears to affect

health. A Yale study asked 305 couples married an average of 43

years to name their confidante or greatest source of emotional

support. Surprisingly, a couple in which a woman with children named

her husband but the husband didn't name her was significantly more

likely to be alive after six years than other couples, says Roni

Beth Tower, now adjunct assistant professor at Teachers College,

Columbia University. One reason may be that being needed, by either

your children or your wife, is better for health than having someone

to lean on.