Why does marrying a younger woman extend the man's lifespan but reduce the woman's lifespan?

[mad_scientist]

What explanations have been put forward for this observation we generally see in real life?

[geordief]

The man gets a carer but the woman's  social milieu is likely to be less challenging than otherwise?

Edited November 26, 2017 by geordief

[mad_scientist]

3 minutes ago, geordief said:

The man gets a carer but the woman's  social milieu is likely to be less challenging than otherwise?

Why would the woman's social milieu  less challenging? Is this for married life?

[John Cuthber]

12 minutes ago, mad_scientist said:

What explanations have been put forward for this observation we generally see in real life?

Who generally sees this?

The data suggests that women also live longer if they are married.
In any event, how would you demonstrate  causation?

Is it that people who marry live longer, or is it that healthy people are more likely to marry?

 

[geordief]

Just now, mad_scientist said:

Why would the woman's social milieu  less challenging? Is this for married life?

Well just on the basis that an older partner would tend to be more rigid in his/her views and his/her social milieu would reflect that.

 

"Married life" in an informal sense ,I suppose. (if that is clear)

 

I am not confident in my assessment, though. I reckon studies could be made (pointlessly?) to interpret the findings of this research (where did you find this btw?)

[mad_scientist]

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/mar/31/women-marrying-younger-men-dying-earlier-research

7 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

Is it that people who marry live longer, or is it that healthy people are more likely to marry?

 

Haha. This is like, does completing university actually improve your economic opportunities after graduation or is it that simply more smarter people go to university?

My gut instinct is telling me it's the latter for both cases.

 

So, do you think marriages where there is a large gap between wife and husband is necessarily bad for the woman?

[Itoero]

I think, on average, the man loses stress while the woman gains stress.