Spousal Spats can Hurt Hearts
March 8, 2006
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new study shows the way spouses fight affects men and women's hearts differently.
The report shows hardening of the arteries is more likely in women when they and their husbands are hostile during an argument. It's more common in men, however, when their wives act in a controlling manner.
University of Utah investigators analyzed 150 healthy, married couples, mostly in their 60s. Participants were told to pick a topic that caused disagreements in their marriage. Then each couple was videotaped as they discussed the topic for six minutes. Two days later, each couple had a CT scan of the chest.
Researchers say the more hostile a woman's comments were during the discussion, the greater the extent of hardening of the arteries. It was even worse in women whose husbands were also hostile and unfriendly. The level of hostility did not affect hardening of the arteries in men.
The study also shows men who acted more dominant or controlling or had wives who acted that way were more likely to have more severe hardening of the arteries. The dominant or controlling behavior, however, was not related to the condition of women's hearts.
"If you were concerned about men's heart health, you would ask couples to find ways to talk about disagreements without trying to control each other," says Professor Tim Smith, University of Utah psychologist. "If you were concerned about women's heart health, you would encourage couples to find ways to have disagreements that weren't hostile."
He adds spouses concerned about each other should avoid both hostility and controlling behavior during arguments.
SOURCE: Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Denver, March 1-4, 2006
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