A good divorce lawyer may keep you from getting taken to the cleaners, but having a legal eagle on your side won't protect you from the negative effects of marriage breakdown on your body, a new study says.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Chicago have found that divorce can have lingering detrimental health effects, even on those who dare try marriage a second time.

In a study of 8,700 people between the ages of 51 and 61, researchers found that those who were currently married but had been divorced at one time had a 12 per cent higher incidence rate of chronic conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes or cancer.  These subjects also had a 19 per cent increase in mobility limitations, such as difficulty climbing stairs, compared to those who had never been divorced.

The researchers also found that subjects who were still divorced (they had not remarried) or were widowed had 20 per cent more chronic health conditions and 23 per cent more mobility limitations when compared to those who had never divorced.  According to the researchers, one possible explanation for the results is the erosion of what they call a "stock" of health.

People enter adulthood with this "stock" of health, which is based on genetics and other factors, which will then be affected by their marital and other experiences. "Each person's experience of marital gain and loss affect this stock of health," said study co-author and University of Chicago sociologist Linda Waite. "For example, the transition to marriage tends to bring an immediate health benefit, in that it improves health behaviours for men and financial well-being for women."

After divorce, a woman's financial position often worsens, while many men lose healthy lifestyle habits, the researchers said.  Divorce and child custody negotiations can also ratchet up stress levels, which are proven to have a negative impact on health.

Such effects will correspond with the ways in which different illnesses develop, according to Waite.  "Some health situations, like depression, seem to respond both quickly and strongly to changes in current conditions," she said. "In contrast, conditions such as diabetes and heart disease develop slowly over a substantial period and show the impact of past experiences, which is why health is undermined by divorce or widowhood, even when a person remarries."

Interestingly, subjects who had never married had a 12 per cent increase in mobility limitations and 13 per cent more depression-related symptoms. However, they did not show a difference in chronic health conditions compared to married subjects.

Waite conducted the study with Mary Elizabeth Hughes, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their research will be published in the September issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.