Arguing for Your Life: Why Stressful Social Relationships Affect Your Health

Do you frequently debate or argue with your friends, siblings, or significant other? Well if you do you should reconsider, because a new study from the University of Copenhagen found that such interactions can increase your risk of dying in middle age.

The study, "Stressful social relations and mortality: a prospective cohort study," was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The researchers' goal was to evaluate the association with stressful social relations and all-cause mortality. They used data from the Danish Longitudinal Study on Work, Unemployment and Health from 2000, which comprised of nearly 10,000 men and women between the ages of 36 and 52.

They found conflicts with family, friends, and neighbor posed the greatest risk for middle age mortality, and those who possessed the greatest risk were men and unemployed people. The data was linked to the Danish Cause of Death Registry, which is comprised of all-cause mortality information until December 31, 2011.

"Stressful social relations in private life are associated with a two- to three-times increased risk of dying," said lead researcher Dr. Rikke Lund, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, in this CBS News article. "Worries and demands from partners and children, and conflicts in general, seem the most important risk factors."

6% of the people in the data reported "always or often" having conflicts with their immediate family, 2% with other relatives, and 1% with friends or neighbors. The researchers took this information and found that such stresses with one's spouse or children were linked to a 50% to 100% increased risk of any cause of death. Arguing proved to be the most harmful of all stresses.

Arguments associated with any type of social relation were linked to a 2-3 times greater mortality risk. This is important to note because an argumentative personality at a young age can foreshadow behavior during marriage. Later in life, stressful situations begin to mount in regards to decision-making and relationships.