Linda Waite Does Marriage Matter

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In Linda J. Waite’s research “Does Marriage Matter?”, she is trying to encourage people demographers to share their knowledge of the benefits of marriage in order to influence the decisions of laypeople and public officials. Therefore, she presents a consolidated account of the major benefits of marriage. Waite proceeds to address the question: Does marriage matter? She provides a number of benefits which married people enjoy over non-married people, beginning with healthy behavior. She points out that married men are much less likely to drink than unmarried men, although she ignores the fact that this difference is mostly due to the high-incidence of drinking problems among divorced men (since widowed men are only slightly more likely to …show more content…

Waite’s research, marriage does lead to a higher life satisfaction from all the benefits it gives to the individuals. Each benefits can be the reason why married people are more satisfied with their lives, may it be physically or mentally. As people are more religious, there is a higher chance that they will get married due to the encouragements from their individual doctrines and this will lead to a higher life satisfaction according to Waite. In the “The Benefits from Marriage and Religion in the United States: A Comparative Analysis” by Linda J. Waite and Evelyn L. Lehrer, they discussed the research about the effects of both religion and marriage on different social aspects and people’s well-being. They also researched the connection of religion and marriage and how both affect one another. Waite and Lehrer presented findings of the association between religious connection and better results on various physical health measures, including problems related to heart disease, stroke, hypertension, cancer, gastrointestinal disease, as well as overall health status and life expectancy. The research also indicates the differences by religious affiliation differs in their effects on physical health, members who are religiously stricter exhibiting an advantage. They showed another research by Hummer that indicates the gap of life expectancy at age 20 between those who attend religious services more than once a week and those who never attend never attend is …show more content…

Recent studies have found that there are differences in parenting styles by religious affiliations. Conservative Protestants tend to place greater prominence on obedience and view corporal punishment as acceptable. However, they are more likely to refrain from yelling at their children and more likely to praise their children. Studies also show that religious families tend to have stronger ties with their family members and has a positive impact on mother and children relationship. Waite and Lehrer further show that religion is a complementary feature within marriage. Religion have an impact on the education and upbringing of children, the allocation of time and money, the cultivation of social relationships, and often even the place of residence. Therefore, there is less conflict and greater productivity if both partners share the same religion.
In Jan Eichhorn’s research “Happiness for believers? Contextualising the effects of religiosity on life-satisfaction”, he discussed the research about the correlation of higher personal religiosity tends to be associated with greater happiness. He started by discussing the studies of happiness and how the perception has

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