Content uploaded by Linda J Waite
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Linda J Waite on Dec 06, 2019
Content may be subject to copyright.
The Case for Marriage
... Most previous studies focused on why people are single and how it affects them (e.g., Coontz, 2016;Gallagher & Waite, 2000;Gibson-Davis et al., 2005;Illouz, 2007Illouz, , 2012). Yet singlehood is becoming a social category in and of itself (DePaulo, 2015;Girme et al., 2022;Kislev, 2019;Marsh, 2023). ...
This article underscores the importance of recognizing the diversity and intricacy of singlehood and transcending a simplistic view of singles as a monolithic group. By adopting an intersectional approach, researchers can obtain a deeper understanding of singles' experiences and identify their unique needs. Moreover, this understanding has profound implications for social justice endeavors, as singles may encounter compounded discrimination and necessitate deliberate communities and social policies that support them. Specifically, we advance here a four‐fold argument. First, singlehood should not only be viewed as a demographic characteristic but also as a chosen status and identity. In turn, researchers must acknowledge divisions such as race, gender, class, and sexuality within this overarching category. Third, intersectionality must be analyzed in its compound and intricate effects, as singlehood intertwines with other categories in distinct ways. Fourth, this carries far‐reaching implications, and intersectionality can serve as a critical praxis that informs social justice initiatives.
... Two possible explanations can be offered for the higher WLB satisfaction levels experienced by married individuals. First, as some studies argue, marriage itself might provide a mental safety net that reduces tensions and benefits married workers (Burt et al., 2010;Gallagher & Waite, 2000). Second, this might be due to the unmarried partners' need to invest more in their relationships because of greater uncertainty in their coupledom, as earlier studies argue (Knobloch & Knobloch-Fedders, 2010;Yucel & Latshaw, 2020). ...
Marriage rates are declining in prevalence in the Western world, and relationship formats are more varied. These significant demographic changes demand new, more nuanced analyses sensitive to relationship-status variations. Moreover, the different groups may have differing work-behavior patterns, influencing and interacting with their work-life balance differently. Thus, using longitudinal analyses of a representative sample of the German population (25,871 observations, 6,280 unique individuals) from the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam) studies, this study disentangles work-life factors and shows their different effects on four marital/relationship-status groups: married people, singles, LAT couples, and cohabitating couples. In addition, four different work mechanisms are modeled here to estimate their separate effect on the four groups: after-hours working, workload, weekly working hours, and meeting colleagues after work. Following this four-on-four matrix, findings show that all unmarried groups are less affected by weekly working hours compared with the married group, singles with a partner are less affected by working after 7 PM compared with unpartnered singles and married people, all groups are negatively affected by workload, and meeting colleagues after work has a relatively positive effect on unpartnered singles. Thus, this study advances the understanding of unmarried people within the labor market.
... There has been considerable debate on whether single (DePaulo, 2007;Trimberger, 2006) or mated life (Olds & Schwartz, 2010;Waite & Gallagher, 2001) is better (better in the sense of people being happier and leading a more fulfilling life). The present study has identified some possible advantages of single life, but it certainly does not resolve the debate, as singlehood has evolutionary costs that also need to be systematically examined. ...
Many people do not have an intimate partner, one reason being that they prefer to be single. The current research aimed to address the question what makes single life appealing, that is, to identify the possible advantages of being single. More specifically, Study 1 employed open-ended questionnaires on a sample of 269 Greek-speaking participants, and identified 84 such advantages. By using quantitative research methods on a sample of 612 Greek-speaking participants, Study 2 classified these advantages into 10 broader categories. The “More time for myself,” followed by the “Focus on my goals,” and the “No one dictates my actions,” were rated as the most important. Men found the “Freedom to flirt around” more important than women, while women found the Focus on my goals and the “No tensions and fights” more important than men. In addition, younger participants rated the Focus on my goals as more important than older ones. Furthermore, low scorers in mating performance found the identified advantages more important than high scorers.
... Türkiye gibi geleneksel toplumlarda, aile toplantıları ve evlilikten kaynaklı akraba sayısındaki artış nedeniyle evlilerin bekârlara kıyasla sosyal bir ağ içinde olmaları daha olasıdır. Evli bireylerin çocuklarından da kaynaklı olarak daha sosyal, bekârların ise daha izole bir hayat yaşadıkları, evliliğin akrabalık ilişkileri ile sosyal entegrasyonu artırdığı literatürdeki bulgular arasındadır (Waite ve Gallagher, 2000;Webster vd, 1994;Hurlbert ve Acock, 1990). Boşanmış ve eşini kaybetmiş bireylerin akrabalık ilişkilerinin azalması nedeniyle böyle bir sonuç elde edildiği söylenebilir. ...
Unemployment can have undesirable effects on people’s life by creating material deprivation. Due to material deprivation, living standards of the unemployed can be lower than those of the rest employed. To be able to live in the same standards, the unemployed may bear extra costs or need some extra amount of financial support compared to the employed. This study aims at revealing the effect of the unemployment on material deprivation and sheds in the light of a question that how much extra costs that the unemployed people bear to compensate material deprivation or to have the same living standards with the people employed. Living standards approach is applied using TURKSTAT Income and Living Conditions Survey (2008-2017) pooled cross sectional micro level data. Logit and the linear regression models are estimated for the analysis. The findings reveal that unemployed individuals are less likely to get together with their relatives and families for the social activities, less likely to spend money for activities such as sports, movies and concerts, and less likely to spend some money just for themselves, due to financial inadequacies, compared to the employed. These findings have also led us to investigate the effectiveness of unemployment benefits and allowances in Turkey. The relevant results show that the effect of the payments is positive but negligibly small in reducing the material deprivation of individuals or improving the standard of living.
... Evidence that married people generally enjoy longer lives and better general health than non-married people has been provided by Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher in their book entitled The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially. 49 Marriage is good for longevity. After an extensive examination of US population data, Dr James Lynch reported that "in almost every case, for both males and females, widowed, divorced, and single people have significantly higher death rates than married people." ...
In January 2004 Jason McCheyne and Adrian Tuazon - two Australian men - flew to Canada to register their “marriage” in a civil ceremony in Toronto’s city hall. Calling each other “husband”, they returned to their home in Melbourne. There they announced they were planning a challenge - probably in the Family Court - to have their same-sex “marriage” officially recognised in Australia. It was a wake-up call for this country, challenging our longstanding common law that only a man and a woman can marry. In early 2004 no one could predict the outcome of a Family Court challenge. The Marriage Act did not include a clear definition of “marriage”, leaving an opportunity for radical judges to change the historical meaning.
To better understand determinants and potential disparities in end of life, we model decedents' place of death with explanatory variables describing familial, social, and economic resources. A retrospective cohort of 204,041 decedents and their family members are drawn from the Utah Population Database family caregiving dataset. Using multinomial regression, we model place of death, categorized as at home, in a hospital, in another location, or unknown. The model includes family relationship variables, sex, race and ethnicity, and a socioeconomic status score, with control variables for age at death and death year. We identified the effect of a family network of multiple caregivers, with 3+ daughters decreasing odds of a hospital death by 17 percent (OR: 0.83 [0.79, 0.87], p < 0.001). Place of death also varies significantly by race and ethnicity, with most nonwhite groups more likely to die in a hospital. These determinants may contribute to disparities in end of life.
Purpose: This study aimed to identify factors influencing hand grip strength of community-dwelling patients with depression.Methods: This was a secondary data analysis of the Korea Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2018~2019), which utilized a complex, multistage probability sample design. A total of 297 participants were included. Hand grip strength was assessed using a digital hand dynamometer. To evaluate factors influencing hand grip strength, a complex-samples general linear model was used.Results: Factors influencing hand grip strength were demographic factors such as gender (male: t=12.58, p <.001), age (19~44 years: t=7.37, p <.001; 45~64 years: t=5.61, p <.001), and education (≤elementary school: t=-2.36, p =.019; middle school to high school: t=-2.13, p =.034), body mass index (<18.5: t=-3.39, p =.001; 18.5-24.9: t=-2.51, p =.013), sedentary time per day (t=-2.19, p =.030), sleep time per day (t=-1.98, p =.049), and depression (t=-3.31, p =.001).Conclusion: Grip strength can predict the current health status in depressed patients.
Despite supportive behaviors playing a central role in intimate relationships, the extent to which physiological and psychological factors are involved in the quality of the observed spousal support, remains largely unknown. From a physiological stance, cardiac synchrony has been identified as an important component involved in dyadic interpersonal interactions. This study aims to examine whether individual differences in attachment determine, at least to some extent, whether cardiac synchrony enhances or impedes the quality of the observed spousal support. Specifically, this study examines whether attachment style moderates the biobehavioral link between positive cardiac synchrony and observed spousal support. A total of 58 couples expecting their first child participated in a supportive interaction while their cardiovascular responses were recorded, and the quality of their caregiving behaviors was coded. Results indicated that couples' cardiovascular dynamics were synchronized during the supportive interaction. Furthermore, attachment moderated the association between positive cardiac synchrony and the behavioral manifestation of support, such that cardiac synchrony was negatively associated with the quality of support when offered by caregivers with higher scores of attachment anxiety. Our findings show that for those caregivers who have higher levels of anxious attachment-being synchronized with their care seeking spouses is associated with difficulties in providing effective support. We discuss these findings in the context of the emotion regulation difficulties characteristic of anxious attachment patterns. These findings suggest that future work could benefit from performing comprehensive studies that consider physiological, behavioral, and psychological constructs simultaneously.
Marriage is an important life goal and is highly valued among Orthodox Jews. Shidduch dating refers to the arranged dating system that is typically used within the community. Previous research and anecdotal evidence suggest that the shidduch system has become difficult and challenging for many individuals, yet there is a dearth of evidence on the subject. This study set out to explore issues related to dating and marriage within the Orthodox Jewish community using a large sample size. Participants included 889 Orthodox individuals across diverse demographic groups who responded to an optional question within a larger survey inquiring about their thoughts and experiences on the subject. An inductive qualitative analysis was conducted, and this paper focuses on the seven most prevalent themes that emerged. These themes include issues related to superficial criteria in mate selection, gender segregation, perceived surplus of females, pressure to marry before feeling ready, the formal structure of shidduch dating, the exclusion of specific groups from the process and lack of education in areas of intimacy and sexuality. This study is important in promoting clinical awareness regarding the struggles that many Orthodox Jewish daters face and underscores the need for communal change addressing these issues.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.