High-Quality Marriage Can Calm Women's Nerves

Look out for this new research to be purposefully misrepresented by marriage promoters in U. S. Marriage Initiatives in the U. S.

Under the header of "Tell Us Something We Don't Already Know," a researcher has found that "women under stress who hold their husbands' hands show signs of immediate relief, which can clearly be seen on their brain scans." Dr. James Coan, who authored the study, said that "This is the first study of the neurological reactions to human touch in a threatening situation, and the first study to measure how the brain facilitates the health-enhancing properties of close social relationships."

So, it isn't really the marriage that helps women. It's the quality of the relationship. If a woman holds the hand of a close and loving boyfriend or live-in partner, the researcher is likely to come up with the same effect. The couples in the study rated their marriages as highly satisfying. I can see this kind of research being misused by Marriage Initiative types who want to force marriage on the poor in lieu of public assistance.

Speaking of marriage, marriage rates for women are at an all-time low. More about that in the next post.