Most parents at some point probably think that children are taking away several years of their life, but it turns out that the opposite is true. Having children is associated with an increase in life expectancy. A new study examining this effect attributes it to the care that parents receive from their children when they reach the age of honor.
Given the lack of normal sleep, young parents may think, like in an old joke, that life is over for them, but statistics prove otherwise.
Many studies have confirmed that people who have children actually live longer than those who never raised them, but these studies have failed to explain why this is happening or whether it is related to fertility.
What the study results say
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Dr. Karin Modig of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden tried to answer this question, at least for the Swedes. Using Sweden's extensive population databases, she studied the death years of people born between 1911 and 1925.
It turned out that if a man has at least one child, upon reaching the age of 60, he can count on an additional two years of life, compared to the childless one. For women, the difference was 1.5 years. With a sample size of over 1.4 million people, these numbers look solid.
Modig reported in her article in the Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health that the mortality gap widens with age. For example, a 70-year-old Swede who was born at the time that was included in Modig's studies had a 3.3 percent chance of dying before reaching 71 if he was childless, and only 2.9 percent if he had at least one child. By the age of 90, these indicators were 17.7 and 16.2 percent.
The difference was about twice as large for unmarried men (including widowers and divorced men) compared with married men.
Help in old age
Modig attributes this difference to the support children provide to older parents as they struggle to cope with the changes that age brings. This is not only about direct assistance, but also about helping elderly parents to cope with bureaucracy, for example, in the healthcare system and in finding a suitable place to live.
Alternative theories
Many other theories have previously been proposed that have tried to explain the lifespan of people who become parents. Having children reduces the risk of certain cancers in women, but may also have additional as-yet-unknown benefits.
On the other hand, it is possible that people with children are initially healthier. However, many scientists do not support most of these theories, at least not as a major factor.
The idea that children help prolong the lives of parents by providing support and medical care is consistent with Modig's observations. In her study, the largest differences in mortality rates occurred in the oldest people.
Most of the alternative hypotheses suggest that the difference in mortality should decrease with age, in contrast to what was determined in the new study. It was also found that the gender of the children had little effect on the life expectancy of the parents.
Anna Pismenna