Research Suggests Polygamous Men Live Longer 483
Calopteryx writes "Want to live a little longer? Get a second wife. A study reported in New Scientist suggests that men from polygamous cultures outlive those from monogamous ones. After accounting for socioeconomic differences, men aged over 60 from 140 countries that practice polygamy to varying degrees lived on average 12% longer than men from 49 mostly monogamous nations."
IT IS the opposite (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Question (Score:3, Informative)
You have a big problem here. (Score:5, Informative)
Read the summary of the study's conclusion again. What the study claims to demonstrate isn't that polygamists live longer than other men in their own society; what it demonstrates is that in societies where a minority of the men have multiple wives, the mean longevity of all men is longer.
Note the following two things that follow from this:
The second point I just made is at odds with what you're telling us here:
For this to be consistent with the results of the study, the negative effect of such early deaths on average longevity must be smaller than the positive effect that the polygamists have on the same statistic. Which suggests you're totally overblowing this by reasoning on the basis of stereotypes.
Re:I would have thought the opposite (Score:4, Informative)
No. The only thing that recent events in Texas highlight is the
fact that goverment beaurocrats will gladly ignore their own rules
and so so without any consideration of the consequences...
"Pedophilia" is just a sort of "think of the children" sort of
rallying cry to try and silence everyone concerned about due
process or the massive logistics involved.
Someone wanted to "harass the freaks" and that was just their excuse.
Fundie Mormons should at least get the level of consideration that
the mob gets from the FBI.
Re:Nah (Score:4, Informative)
I met a gentleman who claimed to have 13 wife back home in Africa, in his version of polygamy, Number One Wife basically ruled the family with an iron fist. She decided which wife did which tasks and who got to visit the husbands quarters and when. Any wife that offended Number One was in for a world of misery. Overall Polygamy didn't sound like fun for anyone except Number One Wife; like in many cultures, what is displayed in public is different from what happens behind closed doors.
Re:I think you ust hit the mail on the head (Score:3, Informative)
Their are many different Mormon sects that all practice their own brand of Mormon-ism. FLDS is just the one currently in the news. Using one particular group as a stereotype for anything is just wrong.
Sorry, just tired of hearing people using FLDS and LDS interchangeably.
Excuse me, but your prejudice is showing (Score:4, Informative)
It is for these reasons, especially for reason number 2, which 'fundementalist' Muslims believe is the quickest route to hell should you screw up that polygamy is actually not that widely practised in proportion to just having one spouse. Now, compare this to the de facto polygamy that is practised in the Western world and see who is mysogynistic.
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
"Married people live longer" is inaccurate (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Nah (Score:3, Informative)
I met a gentleman who claimed to have 13 wife back home in Africa, in his version of polygamy, Number One Wife basically ruled the family with an iron fist. She decided which wife did which tasks and who got to visit the husbands quarters and when. Any wife that offended Number One was in for a world of misery. Overall Polygamy didn't sound like fun for anyone except Number One Wife; like in many cultures, what is displayed in public is different from what happens behind closed doors.
Sorry but that's not polygamy [msn.com], what that is is polygyny [merriam-webster.com]. Polygamy is when a person, male or female, can have more than one spouse. When a man has more than one wife that's polygyny [bartleby.com]. And when a woman has more than one spouse that's polyandry [merriam-webster.com].
I was concerned TFA would make the same mistake but it doesn't go that far, unlike the mass media coverage of that Mormon sect. And it links to another "New Scientist" article "Love unlimited: The polyamorists" [newscientist.com] where both men and women have more than one partner.
Falcon
Re:Islam and polygamy (Score:3, Informative)
With the benefit of the book right in front of me I can confirm that what it describes is referred to as polygamy in the text, but is actually polygyny.
However, polygyny is a a subset of polygamy, and polyandry is rare enough that in demotic English polygamy almost always means polygyny.
Nevertheless, your pedantry is acknowledged.