FARK.com: (7476559) Childlessness linked to early death, though chances are you'll die happy

If you can read this, either the style sheet didn't load or you have an older browser that doesn't support style sheets. Try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.

		Childlessness linked to early death, though chances are you'll die happy (bbc.co.uk)		158
		More: Interesting, Journal of Epidemiology, community health

• • •

4232 clicks; posted to Main » on 09 Dec 2012 at 8:24 AM | Favorite | share:

Share this link:

URL:

http://fark.com/go/7476559

Bookmark:

Article Comments close

158 Comments (+0 »)

View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest

Archived thread

First | « | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | » | Last | Show all

Laocoon		2012-12-09 08:25:41 AM

and alone

randomjsa		2012-12-09 08:25:48 AM

I would say if you have children you won't live longer.

It just seems longer.

drjekel_mrhyde		2012-12-09 08:27:59 AM

Laocoon: and alone

And with alot of cats

magores		2012-12-09 08:30:30 AM

I'm lying in bed with a 14 month that has a cold and a wife that has been a coont for the last month (at least)...

trust me youngsters... don't do it.

reillan		2012-12-09 08:31:09 AM

Better alone, without children, and with cats, than with people who make you want to put a bullet in your brain every day.

/forever alone, like a boss

Girion47		2012-12-09 08:31:33 AM

This is a study of people who wanted and failed to have children, not those of us that are blissfully saving lots of money to spend on ourselves.

willfullyobscure		2012-12-09 08:31:58 AM

that's what you get for fighting biology and settled custom. there'll always be outliers but please don't ask society for more than tolerance if you go against natural, God-fearing male and female roles. nature assigned you a place at birth--know it and be happy.

stu1-1		2012-12-09 08:34:14 AM

My ex is childless.
This seems to be a multiple blessing (for me).

BrainyBear		2012-12-09 08:35:18 AM

That's because we're out bar-hopping, parasailing, hiking the Rockies, and shagging like bunnies. And the earlier death is TOTALLY WORTH IT.

sulco		2012-12-09 08:38:56 AM

randomjsa: I would say if you have children you won't live longer.

It just seems longer.

Right.on.the.money.

/same goes for marriage.

Pollexter		2012-12-09 08:40:12 AM

mrlewish		2012-12-09 08:40:43 AM

Seriously?

They needed a study?

Do ya think that women that have/need IVF might just might have something wrong with them genetically or physically that causes health problems?

bronyaur1		2012-12-09 08:40:44 AM

I am in my fifties, and my wife and I have no children. We are very happy with our decision.

aagrajag		2012-12-09 08:41:11 AM

Involuntary childlessness.

My vasectomy and I will live forever, man.

mbillips		2012-12-09 08:41:35 AM

RTFA. A statistically tiny difference in death rates was found between people who successfully had a kid through in vitro fertilization and those who tried to have one and failed. Nobody has any evidence that having kids leads to living longer among the genpop.

/No kids, and never will have
//No debt, and retirement well funded.

Arthen		2012-12-09 08:42:23 AM

In other news, infertility linked to many life shortening disorders.

Oakenshield		2012-12-09 08:45:37 AM

bronyaur1: I am in my fifties, and my wife and I have no children. We are very happy with our decision.

I am in my thirties, and my wife and I have two children. We are very happy with our decision.

aagrajag		2012-12-09 08:46:29 AM

Girion47		2012-12-09 08:49:00 AM

mbillips: RTFA. A statistically tiny difference in death rates was found between people who successfully had a kid through in vitro fertilization and those who tried to have one and failed. Nobody has any evidence that having kids leads to living longer among the genpop.

/No kids, and never will have
//No debt, and retirement well funded.

You have veins bursting in parents' brains right now.

I swear people with kids HATE those of us without kids. It's all snide remarks and "who will take care of you when you're older?" Sometime I get the feeling that I've personally offended these people, just because I haven't had to endure years of involuntary sleep deprivation, being puked on, spending all my money on clothes that won't fit in a couple months, tripping over toys, having to run out of businesses the second their little minds decide they need more attention, etc...

DubyaHater		2012-12-09 08:51:27 AM

My buddy, his wife, their 3 year old and 22 month old are visiting for the weekend. This has strengthened my resolve to never have children, even though my mother is fearful she will die without grandchildren.
/the sound of a child crying is the most wretched sound on the planet

Miss Cellania		2012-12-09 08:54:55 AM

I am an infertile woman who always wanted children. I skipped IVF and adopted two. Now I have my two, five stepchildren, two grandchildren, and a temporary exchange student.

I cannot for the life of me figure out whether this tiny study has any implications for me at all. Probably not, because they have no idea what caused the small difference in the groups.

t3knomanser		2012-12-09 08:55:09 AM

Girion47: I swear people with kids HATE those of us without kids.

I think the logic is "I suffered, WHY DON'T YOU?"

Girion47: "who will take care of you when you're older?"

An improbably buxom and grateful nurse/stripper that I'm putting through college.

I am glad that other people are having kids. I love kids. The best part of other people's kids is that when it's time to wipe their ass, or dispense discipline, or suffer through a tantrum, you simply give them back to their biological parent.

aagrajag		2012-12-09 08:55:14 AM

//oblig

Photoshop This		2012-12-09 09:07:47 AM

FTA: "Association doesn't necessarily imply causation..."

Which one of you wrote that article now?

lenfromak		2012-12-09 09:09:49 AM

t3knomanser: Girion47: I swear people with kids HATE those of us without kids.

I think the logic is "I suffered, WHY DON'T YOU?"

Girion47: "who will take care of you when you're older?"

An improbably buxom and grateful nurse/stripper that I'm putting through college.

I am glad that other people are having kids. I love kids. The best part of other people's kids is that when it's time to wipe their ass, or dispense discipline, or suffer through a tantrum, you simply give them back to their biological parent.

Fark needs a LIKE button, just for statements like this.

Lady Beryl Ersatz-Wendigo		2012-12-09 09:14:42 AM

So is anyone studying women who are voluntarily childless? Because right now I'm planning to live comfortably well into my 90s.

dugitman		2012-12-09 09:23:23 AM

Lady Beryl Ersatz-Wendigo: So is anyone studying women who are voluntarily childless?

Every married guy with children.

Glockenspiel Hero		2012-12-09 09:23:52 AM

I honestly don't understand the antagonism on these threads. If you don't want kids it's fine- we made a different choice but I won't judge you for yours. We did the infertility shuffle before adopting so i realize all too well that sometimes childlessness is not voluntary.

/was woken up by the two of them having a screaming fight
//anyone want two kids, fair condition,low mileage?

TomD9938		2012-12-09 09:27:05 AM

the focus on your children - your grandchildren and the desire to watch how they will turn out drives your psychological resistance to survive.

More than grandchildren, I look forward to my daughter (she's 18) moving out and on, allowing me to resume my adolescence.

the ha ha guy		2012-12-09 09:36:08 AM

Glockenspiel Hero: I honestly don't understand the antagonism on these threads. If you don't want kids it's fine- we made a different choice but I won't judge you for yours.

You understand that childlessness is a choice, but many do not.

After enduring years of nasty comments at gatherings (I can fill up the 'breeder bingo' card from this past thanksgiving alone), general distrust due to some myth that those who are unmarried and childless are mentally diseased, surprise dates with random women (once including my first cousin, which was set up by my aunt), etc, it gets old.

Yes, there are some parents out there that understand it's not their duty to dictate how others should run their lives, but they're about as rare as a decent police officer.

heili skrimsli		2012-12-09 09:46:39 AM

the ha ha guy: I can fill up the 'breeder bingo' card from this past thanksgiving alone

How you doin?

Seriously, same thing. The worst is my cousin's wife. They met on eHarmony. Within a year they were married. Seven months after that, baby.

She won't farking stop with the constant bingo comments. I think this Thanksgiving she actually hit me with everything on the card and she kept trying to shove her baby at me. No, I don't want to hold your baby. That's why I have a drink in each hand.

She's also still mad at me because I had a party at my house, invited all my friends, and it wasn't child friendly.

blatz514		2012-12-09 09:55:36 AM

With the amount of booze I drink, having a kid would just get in the way

natazha		2012-12-09 09:57:34 AM

Given the focus on couples that had IVF, I suspect the woman that couldn't get pregnant had underlying health problems that drove the death rate.

king of vegas		2012-12-09 09:58:56 AM

If you're a parent, what's the saddest thing you can fathom? Your children dying I presume. Well they will die. Life is fine and dandy when we're young. Not so great if you've been diagnosed with ALS or some other horrible illness.

I don't believe in procreation. I think that life is likely meaningless and giving someone the ability to be animated for a brief time while cursing them with the knowledge that it will end, as will the lives of everyone close to them, is worse than cruel.

Even if life is not meaningless there are issues. We all might be preparing to go to a worse place. I know we like to think that being "good" will be rewarded, and many of us think Jesus stuff, but I don't. I kinda lean towards 80% life is meaningless, 10% we go somewhere bad, 10% we go somewhere good and those percentages don't have anything to do with how we behave on earth. I think it's a bad gamble and producing children offers them no choice but to take it.

One final note is that the future of the planet is dim. Global warming and weapons of mass destruction and distancing of the economic classes are only but a few things. I don't see things being too pleasant for subsequent generations. That's another reason to abstain from the biological imperative ingrained in our minds and bodies through evolution.

Gergesa		2012-12-09 09:59:18 AM

heili skrimsli: She's also still mad at me because I had a party at my house, invited all my friends, and it wasn't child friendly.

Wild orgies for the win!!!

dugitman		2012-12-09 10:01:32 AM

blatz514: With the amount of booze I drink, having a kid would just get in the way

Oh no. It actually saves you time by having a bartender(s) around to mix your drinks and fetch beer, wine.

QT_3.14159		2012-12-09 10:04:51 AM

How can you die happy without grandchildren? I get that having kids is hard and expensive... but then you get grandchildren. All the fun and enjoyment of your own kids without the responsibility. Not to mention you get to see your own kids get the payback for all their fits and tantrums.

I'm only 38 and my oldest is only 15, but I'm waaaaay looking forward to grandkids in 10 years.

DanInKansas		2012-12-09 10:05:11 AM

king of vegas: I don't believe in procreation. I think that life is likely meaningless and giving someone the ability to be animated for a brief time while cursing them with the knowledge that it will end, as will the lives of everyone close to them, is worse than cruel.

Why do I have the feeling you tend to bring dinner parties to a screeching halt? With half the guests staring morosely at the plate, pecking at the salad and just waiting for desert so they can flee into the night?

Tyranicle		2012-12-09 10:07:32 AM

reillan: Better alone, without children, and with cats, than with people who make you want to put a bullet in your brain every day.

/forever alone, like a boss

If by 'people' you mean 'kids' that's not true. My son has never driven me to put a bullet through my brain, however, the divorce/child support laws have. We definately need to change the laws in this country or we'll be dragging wood up the river come next Sunday.

SundaesChild		2012-12-09 10:09:20 AM

You might die sooner, but you will die with more of your money than those of us with children will have.

TomD9938		2012-12-09 10:11:38 AM

king of vegas: Global warming and weapons of mass destruction and distancing of the economic classes

If life is meaningless (I tend to agree, but more in a chipper, "Hey! Life is meaningless!" kind of way), none of those things matter.

t3knomanser		2012-12-09 10:12:00 AM

QT_3.14159: All the fun and enjoyment of your own kids without the responsibility.

Meh, by that point I'm too old to enjoy it. I remember my grandparents- I hated visiting because they were old and boring and there was nothing to do but watch TV.

Loren		2012-12-09 10:13:41 AM

Girion47: This is a study of people who wanted and failed to have children, not those of us that are blissfully saving lots of money to spend on ourselves.

And also note that it's a sample that at least 50% have some sort of medical problem. People with one medical problem might very well have another...

willfullyobscure		2012-12-09 10:15:15 AM

the one thing you will miss out on by choosing not to have kids is knowing what true, unconditional love means.

QT_3.14159		2012-12-09 10:16:50 AM

t3knomanser: Meh, by that point I'm too old to enjoy it. I remember my grandparents- I hated visiting because they were old and boring and there was nothing to do but watch TV.

Well, that's their own fault. I plan on being just as hip and fun as a grandparent as I am as a parent... meaning, the grandkids are going to have to fight me for access to the xbox 3000 or my PC... oh, fine, we can play co-op.

Fizics		2012-12-09 10:17:46 AM

This does not surprise me at all, there is a childless man who lives down the street from my family that is just insufferable about our children practicing their chosen sport in the public street in front of his house. My daughter has just entered competitive singing and is building her endurance by some light sprints up and down the road while practicing her song registers. I realize the man works at night but this is simply unreasonable, some singing and light wind-sprints should absolutely not bother this man but he insists on complaining to her. This is just a case of the "child-free" thinking their rights supersede everyone else's.

SundaesChild		2012-12-09 10:17:54 AM

willfullyobscure: the one thing you will miss out on by choosing not to have kids is knowing what true, unconditional love means.

Not if they get a dog.

QT_3.14159		2012-12-09 10:20:37 AM

SundaesChild: willfullyobscure: the one thing you will miss out on by choosing not to have kids is knowing what true, unconditional love means.

Not if they get a dog.

You feel unconditional love towards your dog?

Weirdo.

the ha ha guy		2012-12-09 10:22:15 AM

QT_3.14159: I'm only 38 and my oldest is only 15, but I'm waaaaay looking forward to grandkids in 10 years.

But if your kid chooses to have no children, will you respect his/her decision? Or will you start with all the same complaints that have turned so many of the childless hostile against breeders?

How would you like it if your parents demanded that you NOT have children? How would you like it if they tried to sabotage your every attempt to live life in the way you choose, just to further their own agenda of making you die childless?

That's exactly what it's like for those who are childless by choice. No matter what we do, some busybody is always there to try to run our lives, to try to force us, sometimes violently, to conform to their way of life, just because we have a different opinion on what to do with the rest of our lives.

Mrembo		2012-12-09 10:22:39 AM

king of vegas: If you're a parent, what's the saddest thing you can fathom? Your children dying I presume. Well they will die. Life is fine and dandy when we're young. Not so great if you've been diagnosed with ALS or some other horrible illness.

I don't believe in procreation. I think that life is likely meaningless and giving someone the ability to be animated for a brief time while cursing them with the knowledge that it will end, as will the lives of everyone close to them, is worse than cruel.

Even if life is not meaningless there are issues. We all might be preparing to go to a worse place. I know we like to think that being "good" will be rewarded, and many of us think Jesus stuff, but I don't. I kinda lean towards 80% life is meaningless, 10% we go somewhere bad, 10% we go somewhere good and those percentages don't have anything to do with how we behave on earth. I think it's a bad gamble and producing children offers them no choice but to take it.

One final note is that the future of the planet is dim. Global warming and weapons of mass destruction and distancing of the economic classes are only but a few things. I don't see things being too pleasant for subsequent generations. That's another reason to abstain from the biological imperative ingrained in our minds and bodies through evolution.

Ha! These are the reasons I give when people persist on asking why I don't want / have kids. (Apparently, "coz I don't want to", is not a valid answer to them).

Displayed 50 of 158 comments

First | « | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | » | Last | Show all

View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest

Redisplay/refresh comments

This thread is closed to new comments.