Not Feel Good Ending: When Medical Crises Hit, Men Leave, Women Stay

The recently release study "Gender Disparity in the Rate of Partner Abandonment in Patients with Serious Medical Illness" sheds some disappointing light on "partner abandonment"--the term for separation/divorce during a period of serious illness and the role that gender plays.

Specifically the study focused on the comparative differences on the separation/divorce rate when the husband or wife is diagnosed with cancer or multiple scierosis. The good news is that the overall rate among cancer patients (11.6%) is no higher than that of the general population. The not-so-good news is that there is such a wide differential depending on the gender of the patient. The study found that a woman is six times more likely to be separated or divorced soon after a diagnosis of cancer or multiple sclerosis than if a man in the relationship is the patient. When the woman is the patient the divorce/separation rate is 20.8% but when the man is the patient the rate drops all of the way down to 2.9%. It appears that women stand behind their man but the opposite isn't so true.

The study's author's speculated on the reasons why men were so much less likely to stick with a sick spouse but determining such causes was not the focus of the research.

The study also found correlations between age and length of marriage and the likelihood of divorce or separation. The older the woman was the more likely her partnership would end. However, longer marriages remained more stable.

Source: Medical News Daily