Your Guide To Healthy Relationships – Can Singles Ever Feel The Health Benefits of the “Marriage Effect”?
Statistics tell us that married people live longer than singles. A new medical study suggests that marriage also wards off the debilitating memory loss in aging.
Are singles destined for dimentia and early death? Or can singles prolong our life and mental clarity through the “Marriage Effect” without getting married? These questions were explored in a medical study and the findings were reported in the British Medical Journal.
What were the guidelines and goals of the medical study?
Medical researchers studied the health changes of a group of 1400 people from Finland, starting at age 50 and following up with them 20 years later. Their goal was to find out who was at greatest risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
Their findings?
People who were widowed or divorced at midlife and remained so were at greatest risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. Being single at midlife also was a risk factor. The “Marriage Effect” lowers these risks of Alzheimer’s.
What is the “Marriage Effect”?
Dr. Ranit Mishori analyzed this study for Parade Magazine and said that the “Marriage Effect” appears not to be influenced by how much education the individuals had attained, how much physical exercise they got, or whether they otherwise had active social lives — all factors that other studies have found to be important in determining the risk of dimentia.
According to Dr. Mishori, the study’s authors suggest that having a partner might provide additional mental and social challenges that somehow stimulate the brain and delay the onset of dimentia.
Is the risk of getting Alzheimer’s dependent on marital status?
This risk is not dependent simply on marital status or lifestyle. Genetics and environment play a complex role in the risks of developing dimentia.
Dr. Mishori stated that what is clear is that people who maintain a healthy and active lifestyle–physically, socially, mentally and perhaps maritally–appear to have a lower risk of developing the disease.
Can singles ever gain the good effects of marriage on their brain without getting married?
My interpretation of these findings suggests that a successful combination of personal choices can ward off age-related memory loss and dimentia, when you combine a healthy and active lifestyle along with having a partner, whether in a marriage or in a committed relationship.
I invite couples to thank your partner for helping each other live long lives with sharp minds. And if you’re single and seeking your great love match, I invite you to enjoy a free, 30-day trial membership in the Singles Club in Tribe Of Blondes.
Not a hair color, it’s a reislient optimism that unites us and fuels our passionate choices and personal triumphs.
Start meeting our savvy Tribe Of Singles in video chats, book discussions and travel vacations. Click on SINGLES CLUB in the menu bar and sign up now. Enjoy!
Dedicated to your dating and relationship happiness,
Hadley Finch
Firesetting in childhood and adolescence: early sign of psychopathology?
This past week, police officers in Florida arrested an 18-year-old kid as prime suspect in a wave of cat killings and mutilations. The killing and torturing of animals for pleasure (excluding traditional hunting) is one of the strongest signs of serious psychopathology. Firesetting is likely a close second, with most adults and adolescents who engage in arson also have a history of childhood firesetting. But until now, most studies have not been able to accurately examine what type of firesetting is predictive of later problems? For example, some children who engage in firesetting do not engage in arson or have serious psychopathology. So what are the characteristics (severity, duration, etc) that are associated with such ‘transitional’ or ‘phase’ firesetting versus a firesetting behavior that is more chronic and potentially pathological?
In an upcoming issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry a team of researchers from the University of Toronto in Canada conducted a large epidemiological examination of firesetting among 3,965 Canadian children and adolescents in grades 7 to 12. The authors examined the correlates of 4 types of firesetters:
- No history of fire setting
- Desisters: History of firesetting but none during the past year
- Low frequency (1-2 during past year)
- High frequency (3+ times during the past year)
The authors then examined the following variables:
- sex
- age
- school level
- grades
- is family intact?
- welfare involvement?
- difficulty with peers
- daily smoking
- binge drinking
- cannabis use
- other illicit drug use
- delinquent behaviors
- Ritalin use
- high sensation seeking personality
- psychological distress
- suicidal ideation
The Results:
- 72% of the sample had either never engaged in fire setting (32%) or had engaged sometime during their lives but not during the past year (40.5%)
- 27% reported engaging in firesetting during the past 12 months.
- When compared to those with no history of firesetting, the “desisters” were were more likely to be male, older, smokers, cannabis users, high sensation seekers, and have high levels of psychological distress.
- When compared to those with no history of firesetting, the high frequency fire setters were more likely to be male, have low parental monitoring, be binge drinkers, cannabis users, illicit drug users, have a history of delinquent behaviors, be sensation seeking, have high levels of psychological distress, and have suicidal ideation. This profile was almost identical to the profile of low frequency firesetters.
While controlling for other variables:
One way to conceptualize these findings is to examine the factors that predicted high/low frequency firesetters but die no predict ‘desisters’. For example, low parental monitoring was associated with low/high frequency firesetters but not with desisters. This suggests that low parental monitor is a risk factor in more chronic firesetting behaviors and that parental monitoring may not have an impact on isolated events of firesetting that do not become chronic. Cannabis was associated with all groups, so it’s not that informative. This is not surprising given that cannabis use is very frequent among teens. However, other illicit drug use was associated with frequent fire setting only, likely reflecting the severity of behavior problems among these teens. This is supported by the finding that only the low and high frequency fire setters, and not the desisters, were more likely to have a history of delinquent behaviors.
The Reference: MacKay, S., Paglia-Boak, A., Henderson, J., Marton, P., & Adlaf, E. (2009). Epidemiology of firesetting in adolescents: mental health and substance use correlates Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02103.x
Thank you for subscribing to the RSS feed of Child-Psych.org. Please visit our website to join the conversation.
