Chapters 8 & 9

Chapter 8 explores the common conception that exercise leads to longer and healthier lives. While this is true, what makes the statement true is having consistency with exercising. Furthermore, there are other external factors, like having a healthy diet, that affects longevity. The net benefit of exercising might also be very minimal compared to the time and effort put into longer exercises if the individual is not a fan of the workouts. However, what is interesting to exercising for longer amounts of periods consistently is one’s discipline to maintaining that schedule. Those with higher conscientiousness were more likely to stick with it, especially if they enjoyed exercising. For me, I can relate this to the personal project we are doing in class. Since my project is to increase my aerobic activity, I have chosen an activity that I enjoy: running.  I feel more committed to accomplishing my weekly goals and feel great after my runs.

Chapter 9 examines marital status and longevity among 4 groups broken down by gender: steadily married, divorced (single), divorced (remarried), and single.  It was shown that males that were divorced were more likely to die at an earlier age, even the remarried ones. This might have bene due to stress from divorce. The single men outlived the remarried and divorced groups, but not the steadily married men, the longest living of them all. With females, the married showed living somewhat of a longer life. Being divorced didn’t have as much of an impact on them as it did for the males for mortality risk. Parental divorce, but more so personality, were indicators of marital success. The study also evaluated commonalities between similar interests and sexual satisfaction between the spouses. Through this, it was found that the husband’s happiness mattered more in determining the happiness of each individual.

While the results of these topics are interesting, I wonder if they still hold true today.  Mentioned on page 124, sometimes the results of these studies become outdated. For example, same sex marriage is legal in many countries in the world and the rates for these marriages are increasing. If the marriage is same sex, then how does a “lack of a husband or wife” affect the spouses’ happiness? Should the husband and wife roles be rewritten to based on the role characteristics? Or should we just discredit the study and say it does not pertain to today’s society anymore?

This entry was posted in Chapter 8, Chapter 9. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Chapters 8 & 9

  1. Jasmine Fernandez says:

    Jessica — I think you provided accurate summaries of Chapters 8 & 9 and I am intrigued by the point you brought up at the end of your blog post. I was thinking about the same thing as I read this chapter and would be interested in reading about how times have changed and how these changes have affected the marital status of couples, or the outcomes that result from divorce, such as in a same-sex marriage. I think the questions you bring up are interesting and thought-provoking because they are valid points and I don’t know how I would answer these myself, without performing any research on the topic of marriage and relationships.

    I don’t think we should discredit the study, only because it still offers us valuable information and can allow us to see how marital status has evolved in affecting people both physically and psychologically. It would be interesting to compare these studies to couples 10 years from now, when I assume marital laws will have evolved even more than they already have.

  2. Jacob Roberson says:

    Yes, it is much easier said than done to say, “workout and life will be better.” We all know good and well that motivation to do so is not always there–even when it’s something we “love” to do or very much enjoy, like running for you, Jessica. However, what’s good is, I’d say 9 times out of 10, when we complete that workout, there’s rarely regret or “I wish I hadn’t done that” (after we finally catch our breath and get our energy back of course).
    With regards to marriage, like I said in my own post, I hope I get and stay married once and only once, especially with what the book says about divorced males. But I agree with your point about the study becoming outdated and same sex marriage. We mentioned it briefly in our discussion in lab, same sex relationships shake up the “traditional” (heterosexual) dyad of parental responsibility and expectations. I wonder what the original researchers would think of this today, haha.

Comments are closed.