|. calls the t ‘Two types of Catherine JUST ADD WATER THRE PROBLEM with Studies is that, nine times out of 10, another study comes along refuting what’s in the first one. Take two recent studies that claim to measure the health and happiness of single versus married people. The first is a recen:: analysis by University of British Columbia associate professor James White. White analyzed data from a 3985 Statistics Canada social survey that looked at health (ac- tual health problems, physician visits, etc.) and something called “*life satisfaction.”’ ’ The latter included four categories: personal relationships {such as family life or mayriage), work, health, and finances/ housing. White found that in three of the four categories, single never-married folks had ‘“‘happier and healthier scores.”” Whiite advances a number of explanations as to why the single crowd has overtaken the married group in the health and happiness departments. — He points out that a fongtime assumption is that marriage and family are not only normal but a ‘healthy way to live cne’s life; however, factors such as child- rearing, dual-carcer families and jaily violence have made mar- fiage izireasingly stressful. On the other side of the fence, White argues that the single life is becoming ‘‘less sti; add The second study, limited to women, neatly contradicis Prof. White’s conclusion. After polling more than 1,100 women, University of Montreal researchers found single women were more depressed, had lower self-esteem and less life satisfac- tion than either married, childless women or marricd women with children. The study also determined that women with children are not left on a lower rung of the career lad- der than women without children. (in other words, women who decide to put their careers above everything else don’t necessarily end up CEO of a corporation.) The other probiem with studies is that they inevitably give the im- pression they have uncovered new information — stunning facts that will make us all stop dreaming or doodling and say: “Wow, now that's interesting!" To me, there’s no great news value in declaring that family life is stressful. Surely any time you have X number of individuals living under the same roof there’s going to be stress — whether it comes from minor disagreements like dealing with the family bathroom hog, or major ones like trying to find de- cent childcare so Mom can join the workforce. You don't have to be an aca- demic to state confidently that family life, at certain times, in- volves a relatively high degree of stress. It’s just that in the 19th cen- tury, StatsCan wasn't around to measure your stress and send out a news release on it. My paternal grandfather, for exampie, clearly was part of a nu- clear family that had a fair amount of stress — otherwise his Welsh father wouldn’t have left his stern Mennonite wife and eight children in the Niagara Peninsula and gone out Wes:. In those days, when the stress was too great you didn’t divorce — you headed for the frontier. Having spent a good number of years single myself, and having observed single friends, | feel qualified to argue that the single state can also be highly stressful. You worry that it’s up to you, and only you, to bring in the rent money. You worry that 10 years from now, you'll still be fighting all the problems life can hit you with alone, with nobody else on your team. MAILBOX Privatizing CBC the answer Dear Editor: Instead of whining about cen- sorship, the producers of the much-maligned ‘‘docu-drama’’ The Valour and the Horror should be pushing for the privatization of the CBC. After all, as long as the CBC is funded almost soleiy uy the tax- payers, government officials should have the right to review its output; he who pays the piper une. If the CBC were privately own- ed and funded, however, it would e-be able to air “* ‘which undermine Canada’s heritage with true independence. Producers would not have to worry about nasty Senate “‘inquisitions.’ Canadian taxpayers one benefit from a privatized CBC as they would no longer be forced to pour $1 billion a year into the network. The privatization itself could be accomplished easily. The govern- ment could sell the CBC radio and television stations to its employees, managers and the gen- eral public in the local media markets and keep the network in- tact. In short, privatizing the CBC would be good news for just about everyone. David Somerville, president National Citizens’ Coalition N. Shore News Mailbox policy LETTERS TO the editor must be legible (preferably typewritten) and include your name, full address and telephone number. Due to space constraints the North Shere News cannot publish ail letters. Published letters may be edited for brevity, clarity, accuracy, le- gality and taste. Letters can be faxed to 985-3227 but still must be signed and fully addressed. INSIGHTS stress: single and married Maybe single people today are healthier, but I can't believe they’ve all abandoned the son of ubhealthy habits that | seemed to slide into when I was single. Since there wasn’t a mate and kids around who expected some- what normal meals (featuring more than one of the basic food groups), f used to adopt strange eating patterns. Like eating only yams for dinner three days in a row. Though I wasn’t knocking it back at 7 a.m., | probably drank too much white wine alone and with friends. lL also challenge Prof. White’s suggestion that the single life is becoming less stigmatized — at least for women. Talk to single women and they'll confirm that it’s still com- mon to think of a single man as a “hot property’’ and a single Friday, December 4, 1992 -— North Shore News — 7 woman as a loser. All this said about the single life, che obvious about martiage and children must also be stated: it’s a huge compromise, obliging an individual to make a difficult shift to new obligations and priorities. Even though i'm mired in mars- riage and motherhood, | siill stage periodic mini-rebelfions in a struggle for greater freedom and time on my own. Finding some measure of indi- vidual freedom within the confines of marriage is not easy. Not even for the acclaimed experts in the area of relationships. Weren’t we all devastated io learn earlier this year that Masters and Johnson themselves were par- Ung ways? And they were together a tong time — 2! years of mar- riage. The announcement from the in- stitute that bears their names ex- plained that the decision to split was ‘‘based on differences in the goals each has for the balance of their lives.”* Sure sounds to me like a con- voluted admission that com- promise ain’t easy. After reading various studies about married and single life, and drawing on my own experience in the two states, I’ve decided it comes down to choosing between two brands of stress: You either stay at home Friday night eating yams and sipping white wine by yourself, wondering why nobody is sharing your unbalanced diet with you; or you rush around a house full of other individuals, complaining to the ingrates: ‘‘What do you mean this is the third night in a row we've had yams for dinner?”’ SRP TRLUETEE ETE eCe NT The folks at Art Gecko - our child minding service - have organized a host of Christmas-themed activities to keep your little ones creatively amused, while you take on the adult responsibilities of shopping. FREE ELF WORKSHOPS FOR KIDS. Located on both Malls, it’s where Santa’s Little Helpers get to help themselves. On Sunday, December 6, from 3 ~ 5 pm, they'll create their own Christmas cards, gift tags, Snowflake stickers and gift wrap. 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