[.ca] The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, ... (ISBN 0767906322)

From Amazon.com:
The wages of the married are high, commitment is good for the libido, and, despite 30 years of arguments to the contrary, happiness may just depend on reciting the wedding vow, according to Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher. After sifting through the evidence and conducting their own studies, the authors conclude that marriage is beneficial and transformational, and that neither cohabitation nor swinging singledom are all they're cracked up to be. In fact, it turns out that marriage is a public heath issue: being single can take almost 10 years off a man's life, while wifely nagging really is good for his health. Getting and keeping a wife can also increase a man's income as much as an education. Waite and Gallagher debunk a number of myths about marriage, including the one that says men get a better deal. Acknowledging that there may have been some truth to this in the past, better equity in modern marriages means that women make out just as well as men, though in different ways. Divorce--not marriage--is especially bad for women's health; parenting young children--not marriage--is the usual source of depression seen in mothers; and battering is significantly more common in cohabitating couples. So, what does threaten marriage? For one, the insecurity engendered by the cultural acceptance of divorce. Couples are now less willing to invest fully in each other, the authors write, while "commitment produces contentment; uncertainty creates agony." Cultural indifference towards marriage is the other big downer. Because marriage is a public commitment, it can "work its miracles only if it is supported by the whole society." Not surprisingly, divorce gets a very bad rap as Waite and Gallagher pull out the heavyweight facts, particularly when it comes to its effect on children. The good news, though, is that marriage is resilient--five years down the road most couples who considered but resisted divorce found that they were happy again. Since Americans are still the marrying kind despite the cynicism, fear, and laissez-faire attitudes, The Case for Marriage makes a reassuring and compelling case for keeping on keeping on. --Lesley Reed

Realistic and informative:
I love books on marriages that succeed and why and it is one of the aspects that drew me to buying this excellent book. And it would be to bad id people denounced the book because it speaks so highly of why marriage is good for people. One need only read the Jewish texts, Torah to see that marriage was ordained because being alone according to God wasn't best. And to those who think they cannot find the right person to marry, a simple piece of advise is stop looking so hard, ask God to bring them into your life and above all don't expect what you yourself aren't willing to be yourself. Want someone who is nice looking, fit, healthy, or rich then make sure you are the same thing. If you are looking for 'perfect' you're probably dooming yourself from the get go. The authors not that someone who has made a bad choice and ends up in an abusive relationship should not stay, but flea to safety and don't make the same bad choice again. But that overall marriage is healthy. That married couples contrary to the jokes and myths actually have more sex and more satisfying sex emotionally and physically. The authors also note (listen up men) on page 99 that "For men, the data leave little room for doubt:Marriage itself makes men more successful. In fact when it comes to earnings, for men, getting and keeping a wife may be as important as getting an education." And "Married men make better workers than single guys do, because they lead more settled lives. They have lower rates of absenteeism from work and are less likely to quit or be fired than are single men." The authors also dispel many myths like marriage increases to a large extent the home management hours wives have. After reading the book I sat down and wrote out the pros and cons of thirty-eight years of marriage and the what ifs. Its interesting as a case in point that after my husband was hit and disabled by a drunk driver and I became his caregiver that while our income did drop, his life expediency rose and my over all happiness increased because being married we were a team. And the authors share similar examples and stats.

Healthy and/or wealthy single people don't exist??:
I would like to totally agree with reviewer Veronica Anzaldua. Your weight, diet, and exercise has far more to do with your lifespan and the function of your immune system than marriage does. As a registered nurse and a Certified Health Education Specialist, I am far more qualified than either of these two authors to discuss the subject of health. Having worked at both the Texas Heart Institute and the MD Anderson Cancer Center, I can tell you that there are many married patients under 50 years of age who are very ill and have even died at a young age. My husband is a cardiologist at THI and he will also back me up on this 100% I am not against marriage by any means. Marriage is wonderful when it is a good one. However, a much more appropriate title for this book would have been Why HAPPILY Married People are .....Even in this case, a person would have to have a healthy lifestyle in order to ensure and long life and good health. You can have the best marriage in the world, but if you are 100+ pounds overweight and live a sedentary life. Guess What? You are still at risk for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer! Likewise, a single woman or man who leads a healthy lifestyle, is no more at risk for a disease than a married woman or man. By the way, cancer does not discriminate between married and unmarried people. I hope that no one would ever be dumb enough to believe that marriage is the answer all of their health problems. I can't believe that these two women (with ZERO medical credentials) are making health claims!!

Healthy and/or wealthy single people don't exist?????:
I would like to totally agree with reviewer Veronica Anzaldua. Your weight, diet, and exercise has far more to do with your lifespan and the function of your immune system than marriage does. As a registered nurse and a Certified Health Education Specialist, I am far more qualified than either of these two authors to discuss the subject of health. Having worked at both the Texas Heart Institute and the MD Anderson Cancer Center, I can tell you that there are many married patients under 50 years of age who are very ill and have even died at a young age. My husband is a cardiologist at THI and he will also back me up on this 100% I am not against marriage by any means. Marriage is wonderful when it is a good one. However, a much more appropriate title for this book would have been Why HAPPILY Married People are .....Even in this case, a person would have to have a healthy lifestyle in order to ensure and long life and good health. You can have the best marriage in the world, but if you are 100+ pounds overweight and live a sedentary life. Guess What? You are still at risk for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer! Likewise, a single woman or man who leads a healthy lifestyle, is no more at risk for a disease than a married woman or man. By the way, cancer does not discriminate between married and unmarried people. I hope that no one would ever be dumb enough to believe that marriage is the answer all of their health problems. I can't believe that these two women (with ZERO medical credentials) are making health claims!!

Does marriage cause the positives or would they occur anyway:
First, I must admit that I really admire the scope of this book. It covers many bases, and reviews the literature on both men and women; many books on marriage cover only one gender when it comes to the research on marriage, and then pit men and women against each other. There is a caveat to this research, however, that anyone reading this book should think about. It is very difficult in social science research to prove that one variable "causes" a change in other variables. In this case, the authors try to prove that marriage "causes" people to be happier, healthier, live longer, have better sex, etc. etc. Yet, there is no way of measuring for selection bias: people who are physically and mentally healthier (and therefore happier and more likely to succeed financially anyway) may be more likely to marry in the first place because they are more attractive in the marriage market. For example, some research on whether individuals are likely to desist in crime commission if they marry looks at whether the spouse also engages in crime. The variables in Waite's book may be related to each other, but not necessarily in a causation model as she claims. I still give the book four stars because it demonstrates how social science can be used to inform the general public, and it is a well-written review of the literature. If Waite and Gallagher had been more honest about their results (in terms of not misleading with the statistics), I would have given it five stars.

"A Case For Marriage":
I highly recommend this book. To anyone. Marriage and families are under full frontal attack in society today. I believe it is becomming vital to know which side we are on and this book clearly demonstrates why.