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

Amazon.com Review:
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

Read before you editorialize.:
I found it interesting that the negative reviews came from those that had just heard about the author's politics, not those that actually read her well researched and rationally composed works.

bad science in the service of politics:
I'm a social scientist and for years I have been studying singlehood and the implications of getting married. Before I began my research in this area, I believed that the claims made in this book - for example, that getting married makes you happier and healthier - were basically correct. Then I checked the authors' claims against the original research reports in the professional journals. I found that most of their claims are grossly exaggerated or just plain wrong. In my book, Singled Out, I compare the claims that Waite and Gallagher made against the actual data. I do so in a way that I hope is highly readable and sometimes even funny. The Case for Marriage is an example of what I call "singlism" - basically, singles bashing. What makes it especially egregious is that the case is made under the guise of science. Linda Waite is a serious scientist; too bad she has let politics get in the way. I am giving this 2 stars instead of 1 because it is useful as a summary of the party line. This is what many people WANT to believe about the implications of getting married. It is not what is true. If you disagree, I welcome you to take a look at Singled Out and let me know where you think I'm wrong.

Amazing Book Documents That Marriage Is Good Medicine:
Wow. This book can leave the reader speechless. It documents that, "Both married men and women live longer, healthier lives...When it comes to money, marriage makes both men and women better off...When it comes to sex and sexual satisfaction, once again husbands and wives are better off...marriage provides some protection from domestic violence, at least compared to women in cohabiting relationships..." (p. 170), and, "In fact, virtually every study of happiness that has ever been done has found that married men and women are happier than singles" (p. 168); the authors' address the antiquated and misinterpreted 1972 study done by Bernard claiming otherwise. This work is useful for anyone concerned about marriage: the person on the street, the young single, the counselor, the clergyman, the sociology prof, the individual considering divorce or the candidate for marriage. Despite a few quotations using offensive language, this work is ideal for all adults. It must be read slowly, because it is filled with facts, figures and statistics and you may want to do a lot of underlining (as I did). There were a couple of points that would have made the work better. For example, the authors constantly refer to a near 50% divorce rate in the U.S. Although true, it is important to point out that only 27% of FIRST marriages end in divorce. What brings the statistics up are the serial divorcers. Their chapter titled, "Why Marriage is in Trouble" is weak. It sights a few possible reasons for the rise in divorce, but not the main one: people are more messed up than they used to be. People are less social, have a less realistic understanding of what is normal and realistic (partly because they believe TV and Hollywood, but partly because of THEIR upbringing), and the social push toward "demanding" our rights rather than being cooperative and compromising. They did get it right, however, when they stressed that too many people think about "their happiness" and not about the misery divorce will bring to them and to their children. Let me share this one: "86 percent of unhappily married people who stick it out find that, five years later, their marriage are happier.... In fact, nearly three-fifths of those who said their marriage was unhappy in the late 80's and who stayed married....rated this same marriage as either "very happy" or "quite happy" when reinterviewed in the early 90's." We need to get the word out! I would label this an important book and highly recommend it. If you are involved in "people helping," this book is not luxury, but necessity.

I'm (working to be) an economist...:
This book is absolutely ridiculous. Go take a critical thinking class and then read the first three chapters of this book. You wouldn't want to continue afterwards. WHAT A JOKE! I can't believe a college professor wrote this.

What we already knew:
The power of this book is that it documents what we intuitively know -- there's a reason for marriage and we toy with it at our peril. Not that all married people are doing great or that being single or divorced is an automatic prescription for unhappiness, but marriage tends to make people more secure and wealthier and creates a better environment for children. The authors unearth impressive research and bring discernment to its interpretation. We have to pay attention to marriages or face cultural melt-down.