Marriage Best Stress Buster/ the "two year" bloat - 3/26/07

[Smartmarriages]

Research from the UK Marriage News:

- Stressed parents make for unhappy children
- Why a happy marriage is the best stress buster of all
- Forget the seven-year itch - beware the ³two-year bloat²

·        Stressed parents make for unhappy children
Children whose parents experience a lot of stress are significantly less
satisfied with their lives than children whose parents take life easily,
finds a study by the Institute of Education
<http://ioewebserver.ioe.ac.uk/ioe/cms/get.asp?cid=1397&amp;1397_1=16031> .
Parents¹ suffering has a long-term impact on a child¹s emotional well-being,
and fathers¹ distress levels are particularly crucial in determining a
child¹s satisfaction with life. Using data from the British Household Panel
Survey, the study investigated the extent to which parental stress and
distress are transmitted to children. The researchers analysed data on 2,300
British young people to test whether mothers¹ and fathers¹ psychological
distress in the previous year had a significant effect on children¹s own
well-being at present. The research also explored the extent to which this
distress effect differed between boys and girls.
 
Results showed that while parental distress affects both boys and girls in
the long run, boys do not appear to be significantly affected by their
mothers¹ misery. It is largely the father¹s degree of distress in the
previous year that has a significant effect on the child¹s own assessment of
life satisfaction. Even taking into account how happy the child was in the
previous year, dad¹s distress has a significant and negative impact on the
child¹s well-being one year later.
 
The findings tie in with the recent UNICEF report that concluded that
children in the UK are less happy than children in many other countries,
such as the Netherlands, Spain or Greece. Researcher Anna Vignoles explains:
³If parents in the UK are more stressed for whatever reason, perhaps due to
the longer working hours that UK citizens work, then this is transmitted to
their children, potentially explaining why children in the UK are less happy
than their counterparts in other countries.²
 
The research evidence points to the need for policies designed to reduce
parental stress which might have knock on beneficial effects on children¹s
emotional well-being.
 
·        Why a happy marriage is the best stress buster of all
Forget massages, hot baths and soothing music - the key to beating stress is
as simple as a happy marriage says the Daily Mail
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id
=444034&amp;in_page_id=1770> .  Research shows that being in a loving
relationship makes it easier to cope with the stresses and strains of
working life. Contrary to the popular perception that single people have a
carefree lifestyle, it is those who are in long-term relationships who are
most laid back. 
 
Psychologist Dr Roxane Gervais monitored the stress levels of more than 400
nurses working in Yorkshire hospitals.  She found that those who were
married, or in a steady relationship, were least affected by the strains of
the job.  Single people and those who were widowed felt stress more keenly,
while those who were divorced were the least relaxed of all, the British
Psychological Society's annual conference in York heard.
 
It is thought that married people benefit from simply being able to talk
through their day with someone after work. Such support may be particularly
valuable in occupations such as nursing, in which emotions have to be
suppressed during working hours.  Dr Gervais said: "When a patient dies, a
nurse can't show any emotion. If there is a crisis, they get all the flak
from the public and have to hold it in. They don't really have an outlet at
work but when they get home, they do have an outlet." She added that those
looking for ways to reduce workplace stress may be better off focusing on
the needs of single workers, rather than those who were married or had
children. 
 
The study is far from the first to show that marriage is good for health.
Previous research has shown that those who marry are far more likely to live
longer than those who never tie the knot.
 
 
·        Forget the seven-year itch - you¹re more likely to suffer the
³two-year bloat². 
New research has found that two thirds of Brits say their partner has put on
weight in the first 24 months of the relationship. Half of the 4,000 adults
surveyed by LIPObind <http://www.lipobind.com/> , a new weight management
product, think their partner could do with losing a few pounds. Three
quarters went on to admit that they would stop fancying their partner if
they put on more weight, while a brave 79 per cent would tell their partner
if they thought they were getting too fat.
 
More than 20 per cent of people said the main reason they would tell their
partner about their weight gain is because of a loss of attraction while 83
per cent would do so because of worry about the possible health
consequences. Women aren¹t even let off if they put weight on while pregnant
with only 52 per cent of men saying this is an excuse for weight gain. One
in 10 Brits think there is no excuse whatsoever for getting fatter. The
survey also found that the most popular motivation tactic people use for
helping their partner lose weight is to offer to diet and exercise with
them.
 
Psychologist Dr Glenn Wilson at King¹s College, London said: ³Body weight is
an important aspect of attractiveness. Many couples feel so complacent about
their relationship that they let their figure slip. Perhaps they have been
on a strict regime of diet and exercise but once they feel that they have
"hooked" their partner, less of an effort is made to remain attractive.
Losing weight is notoriously difficult once the process of gain has begun.
And of course lapses are all the more likely given how tempting food
advertisements and restaurants have become in today's world.²

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