--- title: Couples Are More Likely to Get Divorced if the Wife Gets Sick description: A new study of 2,717 couples by researchers at the University of Michigan finds that not only did 31 percent of marriages involving at least one sick partner end in divorce, but the risk of separation for older couples was higher when the wife, not her husband, was ill canonical: https://time.com/83486/divorce-is-more-likely-if-the-wife-not-the-husband-gets-sick/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-01T13:25:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:13.003Z article:section: Health og:title: Till death do us part—unless it's the wife who gets sick og:description: A new study of 2,717 couples by researchers at the University of Michigan finds that not only did 31 percent of marriages involving at least one sick partner end in divorce, but the risk of separation for older couples was higher when the wife, not her husband, was ill og:url: https://time.com/83486/divorce-is-more-likely-if-the-wife-not-the-husband-gets-sick/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd975e5e33bf1180/69868d5d06f2c148f532eb1a/wedding-cake-topper-bride-groom.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5119 og:image:height: 2879 og:image:alt: Wedding cake figurines og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Till death do us part—unless it's the wife who gets sick twitter:description: A new study of 2,717 couples by researchers at the University of Michigan finds that not only did 31 percent of marriages involving at least one sick partner end in divorce, but the risk of separation for older couples was higher when the wife, not her husband, was ill twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd975e5e33bf1180/69868d5d06f2c148f532eb1a/wedding-cake-topper-bride-groom.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Divorce More Likely When Wife Falls Ill > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin May 1, 2014 1:25 PM UTC  Wedding cake figurines Wedding cake figurines Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin May 1, 2014 1:25 PM UTC It turns out the newlywed’s vow to stay together in sickness and in health doesn’t always bear out. Researchers from the University of Michigan found that the risk for divorce is higher for older couples when the wife, not the husband, gets sick. Some [numbers](http://www.more.com/relationships/marriage-divorce/how-marriage-survives-when-one-partner-gets-sick?page=2) show the that 75% of couples dealing with chronic disease end in divorce. In the Michigan researchers’ study, which is being presented at the Population Association of America’s annual meeting, the researchers looked through 20 years of data on 2,717 married couples. At least one of the partners was over 50 at the start of the study. The researchers also looked for diseases like cancer, heart disease, lung disease and stroke, and how they impacted the marriages. In all, 31% of the marriages ended in divorce. Men were more likely than women to get sick. Divorce was also more common when the wife got sick, and not the husband. And the study is [not the first](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/men-more-likely-to-leave-spouse-with-cancer/) to find that divorce is more likely when the wife gets a serious illness. Talk about a double whammy of bad luck for women: first you’re diagnosed with a chronic disease, and then you get divorced. The reasons why are unclear, but the researchers have a couple theories. For one, it’s possible that social expectations for caretaking make men feel less qualified for the job. Although the researchers did not track who asked for the divorce, they note that it’s typically women who initiate, meaning that it’s also possible that women don’t feel like their husbands are giving them adequate support, and they decide they would prefer to rely on friends and family. “It’s…important to recognize that the impetus for divorce may be health-related and that sick ex-wives may need additional care and services to prevent worsening health and increased health expenditures,” said study author Amelia Karraker in a statement. 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