Couples with children shown to live longer, mentally healthier lives

Our take: Whether you had a child or adopted one, researchers found that mothers' life expectancy was higher than those that didn't. For fathers who didn't have children, death rate doubled, according to Michelle Castillo for CBS News. Castillo shares more about the researchers' findings:

"Children can bring more than joy and stress into your lives. A new study out of the Dec. 5 Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health shows that couples who choose to have their own children or adopt live longer than couples who don't have kids, an effect especially seen in women. Mental health status was also better for adoptive parents.

The researchers looked at data from population registers in Denmark on births and deaths from 1994 to 2008. They found that 21,276 childless couples were registered for IVF treatment; 15,210 children were born and 1564 adopted. Two hundred of the men and 96 of the women died, and 710 women and 553 men were diagnosed with a mental health disorder."

Read more about Children help increase lives of parents on CBS.