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Julia Broughton

William Loudermilk

English 1201 Online

17 March 2019

Annotated Bibliography

My essay will be delving into the benefits of marriage. These include financial, legal, and

health benefits. I will talk about how the most stable home environment for a child is one where

they are raised by married parents, one mother and one father .

Krisberg, Kim. “Marriage Linked to Lower Stroke Risk.” The Nation's Health, Sept. 2018, p.

9. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com. Accessed 3 Mar. 2019.

“Marriage Linked to Lower Stroke Risk”, published in September 2018 by The Nation's

Health, an American public health magazine, reports that staying married reduces the risk of a

person getting heart disease and stroke. After analyzing several studies done by scientists in

Europe, Scandinavia, North America, the Middle East, and Asia, they found that married people

had the least risk of developing a form of heart disease compared in people who were single,

divorced, and widowed. The studies were done between the years 1963 and 2015.

The purpose of the health report was to keep public health professionals and legislators

updated on the general well-being of the American public so that they can make informed

decisions regarding American's public health. Since it was written by professionals for

professionals and can be accessed by anyone who is looking for public health information, this

publication is very careful to put out reports supported facts and extensive studies. This report

was also written very recently, so the information is accurate and relevant.
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The author works for The Nation's Health, a publication that is widely known and

respected for relaying accurate and up-to-date health information. This publication has been

around for a long time, and because it is a scientific journal, the information released can be

trusted and used for academic research.

This report, though short, will be useful when I discuss the health benefits of marriage. I

will use the statistics from this report to support my claim that a good marriage can be beneficial

for one’s health. Also, I will use this information to compare the health of single and divorced to

that of a married person.

Ashford, Kate. “11 Things You Never Thought Of When You Decided Not To Get

Married.” Forbes, Forbes Media LLC, 29 June 2015,

www.forbes.com/sites/kateashford/2014/09/26/deciding-not-to-get-married/. Accessed 3

Mar. 2019.

The article, “11 Things You Never Thought Of When You Decided Not To Get

Married.”, written in 2014 by Kate Ashford for Forbes Magazine, states that married people

have financial benefits that cohabiting and single people simply do not have. Many of the

financial benefits have to do with being able to share financial responsibilities and retirement

benefits with one’s spouse. The article states that married couples get to partake in tax

deductions, share retirement plans, and social security benefits. In addition, married couples are

able to save on insurance. They have more legal rights, especially of their partner dies.

The author’s purpose was to inform people about the financial benefits of marriage that

they may not be aware of. She wants people to look carefully consider marriage by presenting

facts the average person may not know about marriage benefits. The primary audience of Forbes
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Magazine are businesspeople and those who work in finance. These people count on this

magazine to give them reliable information about business and finance. Therefore, it is a credible

source to use when discussing the financial benefits of marriage. There is not obvious bias in this

paper, and the author takes no clear stance, as her goal is to report the facts. Since this article was

published in the last five years, the information is still accurate.

The mini bio under the writer’s name states that she writes about personal finance, work,

and consumer trends. Her expertise shows that she is qualified to talk about this topic, and that

the information she presents is accurate. Since personal finance is important in a marriage, and

she is knowledgeable in that area, I can trust what she says. She makes no personal opinion, and

the tone of the article is very matter-of-fact. The only opinion included in this article is one of an

estate attorney, whose job is to help people with their personal finances and what to do with them

when they die. Since the estate attorney knows a lot about finances and how money and property

is distributed, they are a reliable source for the author to include.

I will use this article to discuss many of the practical, financial benefits of being married.

The article contains many specific examples financial benefits only married couples have that I

will use as reference in my paper. Many of the examples are good things to consider when a

person is thinking of the financial pros and cons of getting married, which will be a good thing to

include in my paper.

Linn, Allison. “Why Married People Tend to Be Wealthier: It's Complicated.” TODAY.com,

NBC Universal, 13 Feb. 2013, www.today.com/money/why-married-people-tend-be-

wealthier-its-complicated-1C8364877. Accessed 3 Mar. 2019.

The article, “Why Married People Tend to Be Wealthier: It’s Complicated”, written by

Allison Linn, appeared on the TODAY website in 2013. Its main point is that committed
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marriages lead to great personal and financial happiness. The article talks about how in addition

being able to live cheaper together, marriage also allows a couple to gain more wealth. This is

because a couple can split up household responsibilities so that each person can function more

efficiently in their work life. However, this article states that the reason why married couples are

on average, wealthier than single people, is because wealthier and more educated people get

married in the first place. The article offers an explanation as to why less wealthy people get

married less: they want to have a sense of financial security before they tie the knot. Many lower

class individuals are choosing to live as a family in a different way.

The purpose of the article was to show that there are many reasons married couples are on

average, wealthier. The author wants her readers to know that the financial benefits of marriage

aren’t clear-cut and that there may be reasons why married couple are better off. The audience is

the general American public, but is most likely to be read by people who are interested in

finances or wanting to find out if marriage is really worth the commitment. The author subtly

presents different opinions on the universal benefit of marriage. She doesn’t take a stance, but

puts forth different viewpoints to give her reader a fuller picture of who gets married and how it

affects their finances.

Allison Linn, the author, is a reporter that focuses on the economy, consumer issues, and

personal finance. She has written also a lot of articles about family issues, such as work-life

balance and how that affects family dynamics. Therefore, she is very knowledgeable about

interpersonal relationships, and she has a strong understanding of how finances play into them.

In her article, she includes the opinions of scientists and researchers who work in fields related to

marriage and demographics. There is no blatant bias in this article, and the information was

presented in an orderly way.

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I will use information from this article when I discuss the financial benefits of a marriage.

It includes interesting facts and viewpoints that will require me to think critically about my

stance on marriage and why married people tend to have more wealth. There are many relevant

statistics that are included in this article, and they are explained well. I will use some of these

statistics in my paper.

Schwartz, Joel. “The Socio-Economic Benefits of Marriage: A Review of Recent Evidence From

the United States.” Economic Affairs, Sept. 2005,

http://sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tru

e&db=bth&AN=18155796&site=eds-live. Accessed 3 Mar. 2019.

“The Socio-Economic Benefits of Marriage: A Review of Recent Evidence From the

United States”, was an essay written by Joel Schwartz for Economic Affairs, an economic

journal, in 2005. The author maintains that the institution of marriage is beneficial to society

because married couples live healthier lifestyles, have better economic opportunities, and

provide a more stable environment for their children to grow up in. The author begins by talking

about how marriage is on the decline, whereas children born out of wedlock are on the rise.

Although this was published almost 15 years ago, it is still relevant, as these things still happen

today. He states that his analysis is based on many studies done by social and research scientists.

For economic benefits, Schwartz states that married men, even if they did not pursue

higher education after high school, earn the same, if not more money than single men. He cites

evidence from researchers that show higher wages among married men is the result of a working

partnership between a husband and wife that causes a man to be more productive. However, he

does note that marriage does not affect a woman’s wages in any significant way. Schwartz states

that not only do married couples earn more money, they are more careful with it, saving more
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than single people. He believes this happens because married couples can split responsibilities--

allowing for more productivity and cheaper cost of living. In addition, he points out that married

couples realize they have a responsibility to take care of each other and whatever children they

have or may have, causing them to be better stewards of their money.

In terms of health benefits, he cites several studies that reveal how married couples are

healthier on average than their single counterparts. He provides studies that show married

couples have lower mortality rates than unmarried couples and are less prone to heart diseases.

He denies that this has anything to do with “selection effect”, the theory that married couples are

healthier because healthier people get married more often. Rather, marriage causes people to live

a healthier lifestyle, partake in less dangerous behaviors, and take care of their bodies more.

According to him, this is because married couples look out for each other’s health and hold the

other person accountable for their actions, whether they like it or not. His last point on this

matter that marriage--and the parenthood that often follows--gives a person a sense of purpose.

They know that people depend on them, which positively affects a person’s physical and

emotional health.

Schwartz’s essay also states that married women have a lesser chance of their newborn

infants dying from low-birth-weight compared to unwed mothers. In addition, he cites data that

shows children grow up in a better environment when their parents are married. They are less

likely to get into trouble as adolescents, do better in school, and likely to be successful in their

adult life. He reasons that this is because children who grow up with married parents get two

times the parental care, which is important in the early stages of a person’s life. Schwartz also

writes that boys that don’t have a stable family are more likely to lash out at society and turn to a

life of crime.
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The last thing Schwartz mentions is that a child is more likely to live in poverty if are

raised by a single parent. He cites research done that show unmarried women fare worse

financially than married women, even when socioeconomic statuses are controlled. He states that

the reason lower income people marry less is two-fold. One reason is because it is more socially

acceptable to have and raise children out of marriage. The second reason is because of the

“marriage tax”, where married individuals get a reduction in tax benefits because of their

combined higher salary. He ends by saying that being in a state of marriage causes a person to

act more responsibility and with more prudence, which leads to greater prosperity for their entire

family, whereas poverty is partly caused by people failing to act responsibly and prudently.

The author’s purpose was to inform the general public about the benefits of marriage and

show how marriage is important for a strong society. He states there has been many arguments

for and against marriage, in addition to a plethora of research being done on the institution, and

he wants to provide his readers with the information they need to look at marriage from a logical

standpoint. This article was written in 2005, around the time many studies on marriage were

coming out. He wants to help people who may be confused on what to think of marriage by

presenting them with facts and logic to show that marriage is still a worthy institution.

The author is an scientist in the realm of chemistry and has both a bachelors and master’s

degree. He is part of a non-profit “think tank”, who are experts that provide and do research on

social, environment and economic problems. He was very systematical when going through his

points, and cites multiple studies as he is talking about each point. Even when he offers his own

opinion, he uses scientific studies to support them and explains his ideas clearly and rationally.

He does not come off as aggressive or pushy. At the end of his article, he was a very extensive

list of sources he referenced. In addition, Economic Affairs, the publication he wrote for, is a
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reputable journal that only allows accurate and original essays to be submitted. Although this

essay was written almost 15 years ago, it still includes good information, and the problems he

addresses are still relevant today. Human behavior has also not changed much in the last decade

and a half.

I will use his points on the economic, health, and child-rearing benefits in my paper.

Since these aspects are going to be part of my thesis, this paper will be extremely useful. It

addresses all the points I plan on talking about and provides many relevant studies that I can use

in my research paper. This essay also address the “selection-effect”, a common argument people

have against the idea that marriage leads to better health and finances. I plan on using some of

Schwartz’s points on this argument in my essay.

Parker-Pope, Tara. “Is Marriage Good for Your Health?” The New York Times, The New

York Times, 14 Apr. 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/magazine/18marriage-

t.html. Accessed 3 Mar. 2019.

The New York Times magazine article, “Is Marriage Good for Your Health?”, written

by Tara Parker-Pope in 2010, informs us that the quality of a marriage, not the marriage

itself, determines whether or not a married couple enjoy better health. Throughout Parker-

Pope’s article, she summarizes several studies done on married couples by Ronald Glaser and

Jan Kiecolt-Glaser, a married couple themselves. The two became interested in studying the

effect that marriage on one’s health after they got married. The husband is a scientist who

studies viruses and immunity, and the wife’s specialty is clinical psychology. They wanted

collaborate on something that was a cross between their two fields. Five studies were done by the

partners. In the first study, they wanted to see how stress effected a person’s immune system and

their body’s ability to fight diseases. They tested the blood of Ohio State medical students
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before and during finals week, and found that the stress of finals week weakened the students’

immune responses to diseases and reduced their body’s population of a type of cell that

helps prevent cancer. In their second study, they wanted to find out how domestic conflict affects

a person’s overall health. They interviewed women who were in both happy and unhappy

relationships, and tested their blood. The test results revealed that the women who had professed

to be in an unhappy marriage had significantly lower levels of immune responses. Their third

study focused on how marital stress effected a person’s body in real-time. They recruited several

married couples and had them discuss issues in their marriage. They found that the couples who

had the most hostile arguments exhibited the greatest decline in their immune system functions.

In the fourth study, the scientists put a small blister on several married couples, and had them

talk about things that created conflict. On another day, they did the same blistering procedure

and had the couples talk about things that brought out the couple’s supportive behaviors. They

found that the blisters formed on the days when the couples argued took about a day longer to

heal that blisters formed on days where the couples were encouraging one another. The Glasers

concluded that marital hostility is bad for both the relationship and the married couple’s health.

Parker -Pope reports on other studies that show divorced and widowed people are in worse

health than their single, never-married counterparts. She surmises that it is wise to resolve

conflicts in a marriage as soon as possible, because it takes a toll on one’s health and

relationships. She also writes about studies that show although conflict in a marriage is

inevitable, the important thing is that the emotional tone of the argument is not hostile or

aggressive. When conflicts and stress arises, it should be an opportunity for a married couple to

strengthen their relationship by working through it, not by putting up walls or acting in impulsive

anger.
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The author’s purpose in writing the article was to dispel the myth that the state of

being married automatically makes a person healthier. She wants to give her readers a

new perspective on a commonly held belief. The audience are people who are interested in

reading about potential health benefits of marriage, or those who are curious as to how the

quality of a person’s relationship affects their physical health.

Tara Parker-Pope is an established author who has written several books on health.

She authored a book that dealt with how to have a successful marriage, and the book has been

praised and used by many other writers. Her credentials show she is very informed on this topic,

and the fact other people have referenced her writings is proof she is trustworthy and accurate.

She establishes ethos by referencing several studies and expert opinions of scientists, especially

those who work in psychology. She uses mild language and focuses mainly on reporting

facts, including very little of her own opinion.

I will use some of the scientific studies she reported on in the part of my paper

that discusses how couples can help themselves create and maintain a strong marriage. Her

findings will be used when I talk about how conflict resolution is one of the most important ways

a couple can stay in a happy marriage.

Waite, Linda J., and Maggie Gallagher. The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are

Happier, Healthier, and Better off Financially. 1.0 version, 1st ed., Broadway Books,

2001.

The Case for Marriage was a book published by Broadway Books in 2001 and written by

sociology professor Linda J. Waite and conservative journalist Maggie Gallagher. This book

provides a plethora of information about how marriage is beneficial for many aspects of a
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person’s life. This book discusses the many health and financial benefits of marriage. The book

cites studies to show how marriage encourages healthier lifestyles and more prudence in regards

to one’s finances It provides extensive evidence showing how marriage positively affects a

child’s upbringing. Selection theory, a common explanation for why marriage is beneficial, is

addressed as well in this book. The author’s argue that although some people who marry may be

healthier and better off financially, many people also change their behavior once they are

married, which also creates greater wealth and leads to better health. The authors state that

marriage is important because of the benefits and offers and the stability it provides society.

The purpose of the authors was to educate people on the important of marriage. They use

extensive research to show their readers that marriage is beneficial. This book came out around

the turn of the century, when marriage was beginning to be seen as no longer a priority. The

authors strongly believe marriage is the best option for a couple wanting to start a family, and

they include years of research to prove their points.

Linda J. Waite is a sociology professor at the University of Chicago. She has written

many essays for scholarly publications, and many of those essays focus on marriage and family

structure. Maddie Gallagher is a journalist who has written many articles for newspapers and

magazines. She is also the president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy. Both of the

authors have many years of experience in their fields. Waite has a more academic approach, and

Gallagher has a more investigative approach. Their strengths work together to create an

extremely thorough book. Both women are qualified to be talking about marriage and how it

affects people.
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I will be using the information found in this book throughout my essay. I will definitely

draw upon this book when I discuss the selection theory. This book also provides many studies,

which will also be used in my paper to back up my claims.

Ribar, David C. “Why Marriage Matters for Child Wellbeing.” The Future of Children, vol. 25,

no. 2, 2015, pp. 15–20.,

doi:https://futureofchildren.princeton.edu/sites/futureofchildren/files/media/marriage_and

_child_wellbeing_revisited_25_2_full_journal.pdf.

David C. Ribar wrote the analysis essay “Why Marriage Matters for Child Wellbeing” in

2015 for Princeton University’s academic journal, The Future of Children. The main point of his

essay was that marriage appears to have a positive influence on a child’s life. This particular

section of the analysis essay focuses on how marriage helps a child economically. The author

provides statistics that show how the average annual income of a single-parent or cohabiting

home is much less than the average annual income of a married-parent home. He cites evidence

to show that generally, married-parent households make more money and provide for their

children better because they can split up responsibilities, called specialization. This section of the

essay also talks about how children growing up in married households generally have a more

stable home life. Ribar also provides research to show how children in married homes have

greater support networks and more parental support. Children of cohabitating parents are more

likely to see their parents break up before the age of ten than children of married parents.

Parental breakup often leads to greater instability, which negatively affects a child’s

development.

The purpose of this essay was to inform people that marriage provides a better home

environment for children to grow up in. The author acknowledged that there are many factors
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that contribute to a child’s wellbeing, so he went over a variety of evidence to prove his claim.

He was also aware that many people think cohabitation is as beneficial as marriage, so he

provides statistics to show the major differences between the two relationships.

The author is a professorial research fellow at the Melbourne Institute of Applied

Economic and Social Research located in Melbourne, Australia. Since the author’s main job is to

research economics and society, I can trust that he wrote a credible analysis essay. He also wrote

this for Princeton University, a prestigious Ivy League school, so he would have been very

careful to include a lot of research to uphold the University’s high academic standards. This

essay was peer reviewed by a Harvard professor, which adds further credibility to the essay.

I will use the statistics in this essay when I discuss how marriage is beneficial for

children. This essay focuses a lot on the economic advantages of a marriage, which will be useful

to refer to as I write about how marriage benefits a child economically.

Ooms, Theodora. “Marriage Plus: Most People Agree That It's Healthy for Kids to Grow

up in a Two-Parent Family. But the Marriage Contract Is Just the Beginning. (Cover Story).” The

American Prospect, 8 Apr. 2002, p. 24. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com.

Accessed 3 Mar. 2019.

The “Marriage Plus” article, written by Theodora Ooms, published in The American

Prospect in 2002, argues that because marriage is good for society, the government has a

responsibility to help their citizens create healthy marriages. The author begins by presenting

statistics that show children grow up better in a family with married parents. She maintains that

the government should only support voluntary, healthy marriages, not marriages in general.

Ooms also emphasizes that the whole point of promoting healthy marriages is to provide children

with a good home environment, whether that be through promoting wholesome, two-parent
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families or helping single parents to better raise their children. She lists several things that the

government can do to help create better marriages. These include helping unmarried families

with children to become more financially stable by providing them with better paying jobs,

discouraging teen pregnancy, reducing stress related to work--which negatively affects the

families--and getting rid of legislation that discourages couples from getting married. Ooms

writes that programs specially designed to help couples learn marriage skills is vital if America

wants to see an increase in healthy marriages. She states that whether the program is religiously

affiliated or secular, both have the potential to be effective. Lastly, she states that marriage and

family is not the conservative or liberal’s issue, but America’s issue, and groups will have to

work together to strengthen families for the sake of giving children a better world to live in.

The author’s purpose was convince and inform the American public. She wrote this

during the Bush administration in 2002. At the time, the administration was trying to pass laws

that would promote marriage. She wanted Americans to see that pro-marriage legislation could

be a good thing, as long as it helped to create better marriages, not make abusive or harmful

marriages harder to get out of. To do this, she presented her “marriage-plus” agenda. The main

goal of that agenda is to ensure that only healthy marriages are promoted, not just the institution

of marriage.

Theodora Ooms is a senior consultant at the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center,

whose aim is to help create healthier, stronger families. Her job at the organization is provide

information and research to help lawmakers create laws that will strengthen marriage. She has

also worked as a family therapist. Her current job and past experience make her a qualified

person to write on the topic of healthy marriages. Since lawmakers depend on her ideas and
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research to make wise decisions, I deduce that she is someone who can be trusted to put out

accurate information.

I will use her ideas in the section of my paper that discusses ways state and local

governments can help create healthy, long-lasting marriages. Her “marriage-plus” agenda had

good points that I will include in my paper as things that the government can implement to help

married families. She also writes about how healthy marriage create a better environment for

children, which is one of my thesis points that I am planning to write about in my paper.