X-Message-Number: 32586 From: David Stodolsky <> Subject: "Violating social norms" carries certain health risks Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 12:05:04 +0200 <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/7729143/The-cougars-taste-for-toyboys-could-be-her-undoing.html> Yet now comes the reckoning, in the form of that report last week from a German research organisation, the Max Planck Institute, which claimed that women who took up with younger men were likely to have a much reduced life expectancy. "The best choice for a woman is to marry a man of exactly the same age," said the institute's director, Sven Drefahl. "The bigger the age gap, the greater the woman's chances of dying prematurely." The even worse news was that men involved with younger women tended to live longer. So what's going on? The researchers suggested that women who take younger partners are seen to be "violating social norms", and suffer ostracism from their families and neighbours to a degree that causes stress. The toll of it affects their health and morale, leading to increased mortality. dss David Stodolsky Skype: davidstodolsky Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=32586