High-quality social science research shows that marriage is associated with a number of health benefits. Studies indicate a strong link between marriage and mental health, in particular depressive symptoms. Marriage can both affect and be affected by psychological well-being, through, for example, greater emotional and social support as well as personal connection. Alternatively, it may be that less-depressed individuals are more likely to marry and remain married. Thus, to discern the true effect of marriage on mental health, research must account for the possibility of a “selection effect.” One method …
For many, the end of the holiday season and the beginning of a new year activates a new (or old) set of resolutions. A healthier lifestyle often tops such lists. While exercise and a better diet are the most-touted health contributors, marriage, as recent research suggests, can be a significant factor as well. For example, married individuals tend to report better health. According to the National Health Interview Survey, 89.2 percent of married adults report being in good or very good health, compared to 85.4 percent of never-married adults, 84.4 …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. Straight Talk on Twisty Subjects with Matt Lewis – Lisa De Pasquale Google’s ‘Monopoly’ Hex – L. Gordon Crovitz Nuclear Disaster Like Fukushima Unlikely in U.S. – Jack Spencer Understanding freedom for religion – Jennifer A. Marshall White House Messaging Undergoes Structural Change – Michael G. Franc Health-care legislation will take millions off the tax rolls – Brian Blase & Paul Winfree The Increasingly Crackpot Solutions to the Debt Ceiling – …
Here’s an encouraging note as Thanksgiving gatherings give way to Christmas shopping during the current economic meltdown: When older adults feel grateful for what they have in tough financial times, they’re less likely to be depressed than fellow seniors or middle-aged Americans who don’t feel grateful. And when older adults frequently go to church or otherwise are more deeply involved in their faith, they’re more likely to be grateful during tough times than peers who aren’t. So, clinging to your faith is good for your mental health? That’s what the evidence …
Tomorrow, Rick Warren, author of the 2002 best-seller “The Purpose Driven Life,” will host John McCain and Barack Obama at his 22,000-member Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., where he will question them on matters of concern to evangelical Christians, including poverty, the environment, human rights and AIDS. The standard media line that evangelicals are “divided” along political fault lines misses the point, as Heritage’s Ryan Messmore notes on National Review Online today. A better focus should be not what government can and should do to alleviate social problems but …
American Enterprise Institute’s Roger Bate directs us to an important new study by economists Ann Owen and Stephen Wu titled “Is Trade Good for Your Health?” Bate summarizes: By analysing a variety of data from 219 countries over 35 years, they demonstrate that the citizens of economically freer nations are healthier than those where the economy is more tightly controlled. They conclude that openness to trade and higher volumes of trade are robustly associated with reductions in infant mortality and increases in life expectancy, particularly among males in developing nations. …
