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How being a single father can shorten your life - study

The risk of single father dying prematurely doubles as compared to single mothers or partnered fathers.

According to a study on Canadian families, the risk of single fathers dying earlier doubles up as compared single mothers or partnered fathers.

How the study was conducted

Lead author of the study Maria Chiu and her colleagues studied about 40,500 people across Canada for a period of 11 years.

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The participants, 4590 single mothers and 871 singe dads, were on average, in their early 40s when the study began.

Close to 700 of the participants died with findings from the study indicating that the death rate was three times higher among single fathers compared to partnered fathers and single mothers.

"Our research highlights that single fathers have higher mortality, and demonstrates the need for public health policies to help identify and support these men," said Maria Chiu, a scientist at the University of Toronto.

Why single fathers are at risk of dying prematurely

Age, higher cancer rates and being more prone to heart diseases was seen as the reason behind why single fathers would die earlier.

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In addition to that bad lifestyle choices and stress were also seen as a contributing factor to the conclusion of the study.

Breakups were also seen as a risk factor for deteriorating mental health among single fathers.

"These results show that single fathers might be a particularly vulnerable group," Rachel Simpson, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, commented in the same journal.

Single fathers, according to previous studies, are less likely to seek professional help when faced with a problem – be it being in poor shape, physically or mentally as compared to women.

The study was published in The Lancet Public Health.

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Source: Daily Nation

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