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The Unified Theory of the Nervous System
and Behavior

Cognitive Philosophy /Brain Theory by Steven Michael Harris

Comments on Current Events: Friday, December 17, 2004

Study Says It's Healthy to Be Married (AP, 12/16/2004) (link retired)

WASHINGTON Dec 16, 2004 - Confirming what many couples already knew, a government study concludes it's healthy to be married. Sure, the majority of husbands pack on some extra pounds. But overall, married people are sick less often and more active. They smoke and drink less and in general feel better than single, divorced, never married or even folks just living together.

This press release is a study in how statistics can be used to support an agenda. Usually these health-based press releases are supporting the agenda for the profit of some doctor or drug company, but in this case the agenda appears to be that of the religious right and “family” advocates (“family” is usually a euphemism for religious zealots).

Notice how the conclusion of the study is proclaimed in the title and the first paragraph, and then how the argument against such a conclusion is quietly buried further into the article.

The National Center for Health Statistics report didn't name the reasons why married people are healthier. But health statistician Charlotte Schoenborn in an interview described two major theories.

First, it is important to note that this is not a study of the actual health of these people, it is only a study of how they report their own health in a survey. And it is a study of how they report their health in very subjective terms. Loneliness is not considered a health problem, but it can have an effect on depression or life evaluation (especially if there is some indication in the survey that a comparison is going to be made between people in a relationship and people who are not). Perhaps lonely people tend to report differently even though they have similar health. It is true that people who have just fallen in love will report their health very differently, putting their troubles out of their mind for a time, during the honeymoon phase of a relationship and thus changing these numbers. That does not mean that their health is better.

A second possibility, she said, is marital selection "the theory that healthy people get married and stay married, whereas less healthy people either do not marry or are more likely to become separated, divorced or widowed."

What we are attracted to is based on health. We find beauty in symmetry, which relates to health. We find healthy skin and posture more attractive. So clearly it is more likely that the healthy person will find a partner as opposed to the leper. This does not mean that marriage made the person healthy. And the extremes of this example, the leper for instance, will change the numbers considerably. So the conclusion in the title and opening paragraph are disputed. The above paragraph that provides an opposing point is buried down the page and then dropped as the article goes back to assuming the first conclusion (and a conclusion that was probably intended when the study was designed and before any data were collected). But it could be safe to say that healthy people have an easier time attracting marriage (which is a very different conclusion with a very different heading implied and much less politically correct for whatever group is promoting this concept here).

Among adults 18 and over, 11.9 percent said they were in fair or poor health, the study found.

By comparison, some 10.5 percent of married people reported being in poor or fair health, while all other groups were higher. At 19.6 percent, widows and widowers were the most likely to be in these less healthy categories.

I do agree that loneliness is a stress and stress causes illness. But not everyone who is alone is lonely. For many it improves their health, especially when they have had stressful bad experiences in relationships. And, yes, to lose a loved one who died is very stressful and should have some effect on health, but it is more likely that those whose partner died are at a more advanced age and the older you get the more your health declines, so that numbers here might reflect age more than marriage (which is not mentioned - statistics is a great liar).

"In general, married adults were the least likely to experience health problems and the least likely to engage in risky health behaviors, with the notable exception of being overweight," Schoenborn wrote.

Up to this point they only mentioned numbers based on self-reporting about a general state of health. Subjective self-evaluations like that might differ in the way people self-report based on their situation and this factor would totally discount any conclusions about the statistical actual health of any group here. But reporting about weight is not subjective. You only have to give numbers about your height and weight and it is clear if you are overweight or not. And it is important to note that being overweight IS the same thing as being unhealthy. It is not an indicator for possible bad health, but it IS bad health. This, the only hard evidence for health up to this point in the article, shows that married people have worse health, statistically, as a group.

In addition to reporting better health overall, the study found that married people said they had less low back pain, fewer headaches and less psychological stress. They also were less likely to drink and smoke and were more physically active than people in general.

The subjective nature of how the questions in this survey were asked dispute any conclusions. And let me point out that at least one member of a couple is likely to have fewer problems with back pain if the other member of the couple is expected to do all of the heavy lifting, a factor that does not indicate any advantage of marriage for health in the manner that is suggested here.

However, they're not immune to the weight problems plaguing America.

Currently more than half of all adults are overweight or obese 56.7 percent the center said.

Some 70.6 percent of husbands were overweight or obese compared with 65.1 percent of all men. For females, 48.6 percent of married women were overweight or obese, virtually the same as the 48.5 percent of women in general. Widows made up the largest share of overweight women at 53.2 percent.

This excerpt shows another little bit of sleight of hand in the use of statistics. Notice how they compare the weight of married people with the numbers of the entire population. They left out the statistics of weight in the single individuals as a group, which is the group that is really being compared. (For instance, if widows are overweight at a higher rate than average, but married women statistically weigh the same as a group compared to all women, then the math would indicate that single women who are not widows will weigh less than either group mentioned here, but this is not put forth.)

An association between marriage and health was first reported in the 1970s. The relationship persists although much has changed since then.

The association between marriage and health, especially that marriage causes better health, is not really supported by this study in the way this study is unfairly presented here.

"For most negative health indicators, adults living with a partner had higher rates than married adults: they were more likely to be in fair or poor health, to have some type of limitation of activity for health reasons and to have experienced low back pain and headaches ... and serious psychological distress," Schoenborn reported.

This is the first part of this report that might support the conclusion. But there are other ways of looking at this data as well. Some people are not very healthy (and thus not as attractive as a permanent partner). Marriage might be avoided because a permanent life with a person with some health problem is not as attractive. (Who is more likely to find a partner? The healthy person or the person with a limitation of activity - i.e. wheelchair-bound?) Again it is a confusion of the horse or the cart in this matter.

The report found that married people were least likely to light up a smoke, at 18.8 percent, compared with 22.9 percent for all adults. The most likely to smoke were those living with an unmarried partner, 38.4 percent, and divorced and separated people, 34.7 percent.

Some 4.7 percent of adults reported they had become heavier drinkers than previously, with the lowest rate among marrieds at 3.7 percent. Again, those living with an unmarried partner had the largest share reporting more drinking, 8.2 percent, followed by the divorced and separated, 6.4 percent.

Yes, higher rates of smoking and drinking will lead to poor health. But health problems in these groups should then be attributed to smoking and drinking and not to marriage or not marriage.

Overall the study found that 58.2 percent of adults are married, 10.4 percent are separated or divorced, 6.6 percent are widowed, 19 percent are never married and 5.7 percent are living with a partner.

When I read this paragraph and saw the number that 19 percent are never married and almost the same total is either separated, divorced or widowed, it became clear to me that the survey was weighted heavily with older individuals over younger individuals. When you run the numbers of an older group and include those whose partner died, then it is much easier to find the kind of results this study was preordained to find.

Don't ever let a group like this with an agenda tell you how to think about a topic as if science backs up their opinion when it does not. This is the kind of science that is always quoted to say that prayer is good or that God exists or that evolution is wrong - it is bad science.

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