Poor Marriages, Poor Health

[MountainLaurel]

An interesting research twist relevant to the pro-marriage movement.

Black women are sick of marriage. Well, lots of them, anyway.

snip

Marriage promotes the economic, social, familial and psychological well-being of black men and women -- as it does for men and women generally. Marriage is wonderful for children, who turn out to be less trouble-prone than their peers from single-parent-households.

snip

"Our research finds that marriage brings small health benefits to black men -- and none to black women. In fact, married black women are significantly less likely to report having excellent health than are unmarried black women."

Understand that the report is from people and organizations who could fairly be called a part of the "marriage movement." Many of those involved have long touted the benefits of marriage -- to men, women and children. The female health finding must have caught them by surprise.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/23/AR2005102300770.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Marriages rife with domestic violence, verbal abuse, and conflict

generally are detrimental to the health of men and women regardless of race and socioeconomic level.

[bemildred]

2. There are worse things than living alone.

However, I know quite a few happily married black people,
so I expect this says more about the effects of poverty and
stress on marriage, than anything in general about blacks.

Perhaps if these "scientists" did a study on the effects
of poverty (regardless of race) on marriage they would find
something more enlightening than this twaddle.

[Demeter]

3. I'm Not Sure Why Single Out Black Marriages

the white ones aren't much better. They may have a little more disposable income for a time), but that's about it.

[MountainLaurel]

5. Because these pro-marriage programs

Specifically target blacks, because of the high rate of births in which the parents are not married (much higher than other groups). Health and Human Services has been distributing money left and write to African-American churches to "promote marriage." That's why these studies deal specifically with blacks.

[AirAmFan]

4. Which comes 1st: Marriage or alleged economic and health benefits from it?

Doesn't it make more sense to interpret alleged benefits of marriage as getting it the wrong way round?

Don't you think people in good health would be more likely to get married than people in poor health, Anna Nicole Smith's last husband notwithstanding? Causation would seem to be in the opposite direction of what this waste-of-money "research" claims.

And don't you think people with rising incomes are more likely to get married than people with low or falling incomes? The main reason for getting married is to have "legitimate" children, and 18 years of child-raising doesn't come cheap. Again, the causation seems to be the opposite of what is claimed. Just think of all the USEFUL research crowded out by this kind of right-wing fluff.