14 DAY TRIAL // People commuting for long distances every day are at an increased risk of getting a divorce, say researchers at the Umeå University, in Sweden. They explain that their new research indicates these individuals to be at a 40 percent higher risk of getting a divorce from their peers.
Experts with the research team admit that there are numerous benefits to long commutes, including but not limited to higher paychecks, avoiding moving to a new city, and new career opportunities.
But then there's also the dark side of commuting, which is represented by an increased risk of developing health problems, or being subjected to a lot of stress. Personal relationships are also strained more than usual, the team adds.
It's not that long-distance commuters are bad themselves, they simply have less time available to spend with their friends and family. In turn, this puts additional pressure on intimate relationships, and married couples experience the full force of this blow.
UU experts have determined that couples in which at least one of the spouses commutes for long distances daily are 40 percent more likely to separate or divorce than couples whose members only commute for short distances, or not at all.
In Sweden, the country where the study was conducted, an estimated 11 percent of the working population commutes for more than 45 minutes daily. Most of these people have children, and most are men, AlphaGalileo reports.
UU social geographer Erika Sandow recently argued in her dissertation paper that, while the economic benefits of commuting are commendable, the social costs should be included in the discussion as well.
In the new survey, the expert and her team analyzed the cases of more than 2 million Swedes, who were either cohabiting or married in the year 2000. The team then checked registry data for these individuals, kept by Statistics Sweden.
It was found that this type of commute increases the likelihood of men working increasingly farther away from home. At the same time, women were more likely to get jobs that pay less, in order to stick around for the children.
This naturally leads to resentment and arguments and, for numerous couples, this is fatal, Sandow concluded.