Maggie gallagher why marriage is good for you

They also do not specialize in different areas, since they know the relationship could end without strings. However, cohabitators tend to hold more positive ideas about divorce, and more negative attitudes about marriage in general as well.

Cohabitating women do not show the same level of high risk behaviors that single men do, but they are more likely to be accompanying such single men Umberson, As for abuse, children in single parent homes or step-families are at a high risk for physical and sexual abuse.

Step-fathers and boyfriends of the mother are the highest risk abusers. For example, gender roles accepted by the larger society shape how we respond to marriage.

If a wife complains her husband is not taking care of the yard, or maintaining employment, socially sanctioned sex roles reinforce her arguments that this is his job. Sex is another area where the vow to remain faithful impacts the relationship. Another factor is the access to knowledge about each other that spouses have. You could form a legal agreement to provide access to your bank account, health benefits, retirement savings… but you would have to watch carefully to see that the other person did not steal from you or squander this money.

Some of this is based on studies of mental health that used depression, anxiety, and passivity as the primary indicators of poor health, problems women were more likely to report than men. They did not study substance abuse, violence, and risk taking behaviors for example, which men would be more likely to endorse. Thus, married men could earn more than unmarried men, but little difference could be shown for poorly paid women, married or not.

More modern studies show beneficial effects of marriage on both men and women, and women today have more access to education, options for higher income jobs with status, and social norms for equality. There are still inequalities, but they are not as pronounced today. But what if they stay unhappy? The studies that link negative child outcomes to divorce that have found negative results when children stay in conflicted homes has tied child health and well-being to these specific kinds of indicators.

So how many marriages are the high conflict type, the type that need to be ended for the welfare of the children? Amato and Booth concluded about one third They feel as a group they are less effective as parents, and have more trouble making their children mind them Webster-Stratton, Waite and Gallagher believe the answer is no. Couples who stayed married in one study saw their assets increase twice as fast as those who had remained divorced over a five-year period.

Marriage increases sexual fidelity. Cohabiting men are four times more likely to cheat than husbands, and cohabiting women are eight times more likely to cheat than wives. Marriage is also the only realistic promise of permanence in a romantic relationship.

Just one out of ten cohabiting couples are still cohabiting after five years. By contrast, 80 percent of couples marrying for the first time are still married five years later, and close to 60 percent if current divorce rates continue will marry for life.

One British study found that biological parents who marry are three times more likely still to be together two years later than biological two-parent families who cohabit, even after controlling for maternal age, education, economic hardship, previous relationship failure, depression, and relationship quality. Marriage may be riskier than it once was, but when it comes to making love last, there is still no better bet. Marriage is good for your mental health.

Married men and women are less depressed, less anxious, and less psychologically distressed than single, divorced, or widowed Americans. By contrast, getting divorced lowers both men's and women's mental health, increasing depression and hostility, and lowering one's self-esteem and sense of personal mastery and purpose in life. And this is not just a statistical illusion: careful researchers who have tracked individuals as they move toward marriage find that it is not just that happy, healthy people marry; instead, getting married gives individuals a powerful mental health boost.

Nadine Marks and James Lambert looked at changes in the psychological health of a large sample of Americans in the late eighties and early nineties. They measured psychological well-being at the outset and then watched what happened to individuals over the next years as they married, remained single, or divorced. When people married, their mental health improved—consistently and substantially.

When people divorced, they suffered substantial deterioration in mental and emotional well-being, including increases in depression and declines in reported happiness. Those who divorced over this period also reported a lower sense of personal mastery, less positive relations with others, less sense of purpose in life, and lower levels of self-acceptance than their married peers did. Married men are only half as likely as bachelors and one-third as likely as divorced guys to take their own lives.

Wives are also much less likely to commit suicide than single, divorced, or widowed women. Married people are much less likely to have problems with alcohol abuse or illegal drugs. In a recent national survey, one out of four single men ages 19 to 26 say their drinking causes them problems at work or problems with aggression, compared with just one out of seven married guys this age.

For most people, the joys of the single life and of divorce are overrated. Overall, 40 percent of married people, compared with about a quarter of singles or cohabitors, say they are "very happy" with life in general. Married people are also only about half as likely as singles or cohabitors to say they are unhappy with their lives. How happy are the divorced? If people divorce in order to be happy, as we are often told, the majority should demand their money back.

Just 18 percent of divorced adults say they are "very happy," and divorced adults are twice as likely as married folk to say they are "not too happy" with life in general.

Only a minority of divorcing adults go on to make marriages that are happier than the one they left. This is not just an American phenomenon. One recent study by Steven Stack and J. Ross Eshleman of 17 developed nations found that "married persons have a significantly higher level of happiness than persons who are not married," even after controlling for gender, age, education, children, church attendance, financial satisfaction, and self-reported health.

Further, "the strength of the association between being married and being happy is remarkably consistent across nations.

Taylor Moore and Sanji Moore. The Magic Room. Jeffrey Zaslow. The School Called Marriage. Ramesh Bijlani and Arputa Lal. The Art of Marriage. Catherine Blyth. Love is All. Lois Bird and Joseph Bird. Nancy Dreyfus, Psy. For Women Only Discussion Guide. Shaunti Feldhahn and Lisa A. Marriage Boot Camp.

Elizabeth Carroll and Jim Carroll. Karl Pillemer, Ph. Diane Vaughan. Andy Stanley. Prenups for Lovers. Arlene Dubin. Shaunti Feldhahn and Jeff Feldhahn. Regina Barreca. Love, Sex, and Happily Ever After. Craig Groeschel. I Do Again. Adults make a living off of what they earn teenagers have a job so they can have extra money when they go out.

If minimum wage increases that means that everything will be more expensive since their income is rising. Certainly, the drawbacks of a minimum wage plan are far more severe than first imagined. It would not create jobs but destroy them, as well as the lives of thousands of Americans currently living in poverty.

Consequently, such a decision as rash as raising the minimum wage is out of the question when the topic of unemployment arises. Works Cited Weinstein, Robert. Good Essays. Open Document. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. It is a very dynamic topic of discussion that undoubtedly requires a significant amount of evidence to prove why a person feels one way or the other. Gallagher attempts to prove why she thinks marriage is in fact good for people.

Some of her points are not as strongly supported as they should be. In order to give such a bold statement, a person a needs to have good evidence to support their argument. Gallagher gives the notion that marriage always makes things better for people. As that may be true, it is important to back up that statement with something …show more content… She implies that a man who is single and educated in any profession will make less money than a married man, due to a marriage premium.

Her only comparisons are single men and married men, and her factors are education and job history. But there are so many other factors that will determine how much money a man will make.