The M.Guy Tweet, Week of September 29, 2013

1. Gender and Parenthood: Biological and Social Scientific Perspectives, Columbia University Press
Contributors describe what happens to brains and bodies when women become mothers and men become fathers; whether the stakes are the same or different for each sex; . . .

2. Cohabitation and the Uneven Retreat from Marriage in the U.S., 1950-2010, EconPapers
Marriage is the commitment mechanism that supports high levels of investment in children and is hence more valuable for parents adopting a high-investment strategy for their children.

3. Baumgardner: Belief in Marriage is Key to Success, Times Free Press
The median length of marriage today is eight years. Three out of four people say that marriage isn’t about family, it’s about me.

4. Executive Summary: The World Family Map 2013, Child Trends
The inaugural World Family Map essay concludes by noting the anomaly of the increasing fragility of two-parent families in most middle- and high-income countries even as the evidence shows that such households give children a hand up in excelling educationally.

5. The Strongest Relationships, Maybe I Do: Modern Marriage and the Pursuit of Happiness
Couples who gratify each other’s sexual needs are 65 per cent more likely to be satisfied in their pairing than those who don’t, says a 2011 study in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy.

6. As the Middle Class Morphs, So Does the Idea of Marriage, Bridge
“If they weren’t able to save $5,000 for a wedding, they believed it was out of reach,” Smock said. “They talked about how marriage represented buying a house, basically having a lawn and picket fence. …They would say, ‘I don’t want to just go downtown or to the justice of the peace.'"

7. A Healthy Marriage, a Healthy Life? UNL Professor's Study Bolsters Connection, Omaha.com
The research seems to back up two other recent studies: one that showed married people are more likely to survive cancer, and another that indicated married people, both men and women, have better chances of surviving a heart attack and having a long, healthy life.

For more, see here.