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Parenthood Can Help You Live Longer In Older Age, Research Suggests (theguardian.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the fountain-of-youth dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Parenthood could boost your chances of living longer in your later years, according researchers who believe the effect could be down to children helping with care and support. While previous research has shown that adults with children live longer than those without, the new study unpicks how the effect plays out in older age. Modig and colleagues used national registry data to follow almost 1.5 million Swedes born between 1911 and 1925 as they aged. The team found that while the risk of death increased with age for all adults, having children was linked to greater longevity. The results are published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. At the age of 60, men who had children had almost two years more on their remaining life expectancy than those without, at 20.2 and 18.4 years respectively. A similar trend was seen for women aged 60, with life expectancies of 23.1 years for those without children and 24.6 years for mothers. By contrast at the age of 80, parents had a life expectancy of 7.7 years for men and 9.5 years for women, compared to 7 years for men without children and 8.9 years for women without children. The findings reveal that the benefits of having children became more pronounced with age -- an effect that was greater for men than women. Furthermore, the team found that having children had a stronger impact on the longevity of men who were not married than those with a spouse.

18 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. I don't care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'll never have kids, ever. They can fuck off.

    1. Re:I don't care by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even if you do like kids, bringing them to the world we have today isn't exactly a gift to them...

      I know a great many youngster even today who deeply resent our generation's wasteful and selfish way of living, the consequences of which we left to them, and that they'll have to sort out when we're gone.

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    2. Re: I don't care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      "So the net result is negative."

      And when they leave at 18 to go to university you'll cry your fooking eyes out because you miss them so much. Who needs that hassle. A wife is worse, she'll hang around for like 50 years before she finally gets out of the house in a coffin. So what if you live longer married, it's all negative as she steals 50 years from you. Don't get me started on puppies! Needy furry things with big eyes that sit on your lap.

      a/c, they don't take away 18 years of your life, they give you their life for 18 years.

      You will pivot your life around your kids because they are more important than your XBox, even if they are a PITA sometimes.

    3. Re: I don't care by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Good thing that at least some of those people who shouldn't raise kids have the sense not to do so.

    4. Re:I don't care by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even if you do like kids, bringing them to the world we have today isn't exactly a gift to them...

      My take also.

      Lived through that in the 70s. Thinking "the world we have today" warrants giving up altogether is thoroughly depressing.

      To cheer up people with a realistic view on life I'd say:

      • It's not all gloom an doom
      • The environment will be fixed. Even if it doesn't look that way right now.
      • Crackpot world leaders will eventually be replaced
      • Education leads to less kids that on average are brought up better
      • Kids will teach a nerd one or two things about social stuff. Much like reading a chapter in life's manual.
      • Allow your kids to decide for them selves on "the world we have today"
      • We need people concerned about the world. You seem to be one. Multiply so we have more of them!
      --

      I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
    5. Re:I don't care by known_coward_69 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      compared to the 70's, the environment has been fixed

    6. Re:I don't care by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Guilty for what? The environment doesn't give a shit about its state. If everyone now living had your attitude, there would be no more humans who would care about the environment, so the state of the environment wouldn't matter.

      You are a completely illogical being, and for that reason alone, it's a shame you passed on your genes. Oh well. Perhaps your kids will be better.

    7. Re:I don't care by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even if you do like kids, bringing them to the world we have today isn't exactly a gift to them...

      I know a great many youngster even today who deeply resent our generation's wasteful and selfish way of living, the consequences of which we left to them, and that they'll have to sort out when we're gone.

      If that's the case no-one should ever have had kids.

      Today, as an average, children are healthier, more likely to have food they need, will be exposed to less crime, have more protections, they're living in an age of more social acceptance, less likely to die in combat (sure, there are always wars, but this is an era of relative peace- over the last several decades globally wars are declining).

      People have been saying for decades that the world is in decline and everything is getting worse, but the truth is: there probably hasn't been a better time to be alive. Every generation thinks the generation after theirs is ruined and going to be terrible.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    8. Re: I don't care by goose-incarnated · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Must do wonders for your self-esteem to know that you're only getting some because of your bank balance. lol. Each to their own I guess.

      He's aware. Most men aren't aware that they are being used. You sound bitter that he knows what the deal is.

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    9. Re:I don't care by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even if you do like kids, bringing them to the world we have today isn't exactly a gift to them...

      Yeah, bringing kids into a world where they can expect to live to near 90, with almost no chance of dying in a war or plague or starving to death would really suck.

      Plus there's the whole "we can communicate with almost anyone, anywhere, in Real Time" thing. Can't imagine wanting to subject kids to that (an example: when I was a kid, my Dad spent a year in Vietnam. We got letters, occasionally (he wasn't much for writing). Today, if your father is in the middle of a warzone half a world away, you can video-conference with him using any number of internet tools).

      Much better to have had kids back in the Civil War, right? Or WW1 or 2? Or maybe back in the halcyon days of the Black Plague? Or hell, any random famine year during the last 5K years....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    10. Re:I don't care by flacco · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "New study shows that 18-30 years of hell on earth will extend your lifespan by up to two years."

      Nah I'm good.

      > I'll never have kids, ever. They can fuck off.

      Stay strong. They will say "You'll change your mind someday." That's not true for everyone - I haven't, and don't regret it.

      --
      pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
  2. As always by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 2, Insightful

    At the age of 60, men who had children had almost two years more on their remaining life expectancy than those without, at 20.2 and 18.4 years respectively.

    Correlation isn't causation.

    Also, many of those who gain 2 years in life expectancy lose many more years of piece and quiet having to raise their brats.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. Re:As always by KiloByte · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Also, many of those who gain 2 years in life expectancy lose many more years of piece and quiet having to raise their brats.

      This. You gain 1.8 years, lose 18.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    2. Re:As always by Ogive17 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I know I fight a losing battle each time I defend being a parent on /. but I don't agree with your assessment.

      I was 33 when my son (only child) was born, so I had a good decade of "freedom".. I enjoyed my 20s but wouldn't say I miss them.

      Now my kid is 4, there are frustrating moments but also experiences I would never trade. Best thing is that I now have a great excuse to play with toys again. When I'm at home, I feel younger because of my son.

      I don't go out with friends nearly as much but to say you lose 18 years, that's ridiculous.

      --
      "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
    3. Re: As always by swillden · · Score: 3, Insightful

      First stage is denial. You've got about 7 good years left, then you will be deemed not cool and he'll rebel the next 7 years. Then he'll be right back after you cover his huge college bill and need you a good deal longer.

      My oldest child is 24 and my youngest 15, so I've been through all of that, and in fact much more parental challenge than is normal... and I still agree with Ogive17. Being a parent is awesome. Hard, absolutely, occasionally heartrending and frustrating, but those who skip it aren't gaining 18 years, they're losing the richest experiences life offers.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  3. Re:It just feels that way. by KiloByte · · Score: 5, Insightful

    wants a bottle RIGHT THE HECK NOW

    Not a bottle, a tit. A tit that used to belong to you.

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  4. Loneliness by bluegutang · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Loneliness is a significant health risk which causes a person's death risk to increase.

    Having kids gives you someone to care about, and someone who cares about you, and someone you see on a regular basis. That does a lot to decrease your loneliness.

    This explains why the effect is stronger for men than women (men tend to have fewer social contacts), and stronger for single than married men.

  5. Re:Worse than it ever was, same as ever by gfxguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People lack historical perspective (in fact, most lack any kind of real perspective at all). Really. Pick any previous century and tell me how much better your life would have been. If there's anything wrong with our current society, it's that what people are whining about is mostly a joke compared to how things used to be. I'm not saying it's perfect - it's not, and it never will be; I'm saying things are always getting better, even if there's some bad that comes along with it. But we let the media and other whiners influence how we feel about society, and it's almost always negative.

    --
    Stupid sexy Flanders.