Research Suggests Polygamous Men Live Longer

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."

Comments

IT IS the opposite

[pejyel]

On a short-term basis, it might be true, but on the evolutionary scale, polygamy seems to have the opposite effect. at least this article suggests so: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/10/17/scisex117.xml

Re:Question

[Notquitecajun]

Well, technically speaking, you're allowed it in Islam if you can afford it. That adds about half the Middle East right there. I imagine Saudi Arabia and Iran are on that list...

You have a big problem here.

[Estanislao Mart�nez]

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:

1. It hasn't been demonstrated that the extra mean longevity in the population as a whole is due to the extra longevity of the polygamists. Nobody's gonna be surprised if more research shows that is the case, but let's not get ahead of ourselves
2. Far more importantly, if it is indeed the case that the small number of polygamists truly does push up the average life expectancy of the whole community, this means that the men who don't have multiple wives aren't pulling it down.

The second point I just made is at odds with what you're telling us here:

On the flipside, look at the polygamist societies - in Middle Eastern/African muslim societies, those who aren't going to reach 60 (read: the poor) usually kill themselves off FAR faster in various tribal conflicts and wars.

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

[jedidiah]

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

[budgenator]

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

[Angus McNitt]

FLDS != All Mormom Sects

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

[Chicken_Kickers]

WTF dude? Your sweeping statements of Middle Eastern MOOSLIMS smacks of something Colbert would say. Really, do you think places that practice polygamy are Mad Maxesque Thunderdome x10 where all young Muslim males go in and only one comes out at 60? I never understood the "Western" world's view on polygamy. You're okay with teenagers sleeping around, you're okay with married people sleeping around (as glamorised by your insipid soap operas) but apparently not polygamy? In Islamic countries, polygamy is allowed but usually on several conditions and is highly regulated.

1. You must have enough money (courts usually demand proof). In some countries, applications can be denied because of lack of money.
2. You must be as fair as humanly possible to the wives, even so far as the amount of time spent with them (the wives can complain to the courts)
3. In some countries, you have to get the first wive's consent
4. Legally, all of the wives have equal rights to your money and assets. If you buy a car for one, you have to buy a car for all of them.
5. All of the children sired are the husband's responsibility. You are required by law to protect, feed, house, educate them until they are adults. There are no difference in status of children from different wives

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.

Re:I think you ust hit the mail on the head

[hairyfeet]

Um,we're raising my nephews with home schooling because the public school here is run by bigots. Sure,we could have probably sued and got some cash but my sis just isn't the suing type and would rather raise her kids not to be bigots. And I'm sure some of you are saying "What kind of simple BS is he calling bigotry? Surely he is just too sensitive". Nope,afraid not. My oldest is Catholic and the youngest is gay,and a teacher called them a "heathen and a sodomite" in front of the entire class and when we went to the assistant principal he was like "Oh well,people have opinions". We found out that being either Catholic or gay in a baptist small town equals bad school experience,so we said screw it and are doing it ourselves. On a side note the oldest is studying pre-med in the hopes of starting medical school early,and the youngest is studying chemistry because he wants to be a world famous pastry chef.

And as for the show I mentioned,they weren't hardcore Mormons. They were just quiet friendly folks that lived different. The show was on several couples that lived alternative lifestyles. They also had a couple that consisted on 2 men and one female. They were quite happy and the men had no desire to find out who was the biological father of any of their 3 kids,saying "they are ours,period." And they had Nina Hartley the adult film star,who goes home to her husband and her wife. IIRC,both Nina and her wife worked,and they left the hubby at home to raise the kids. The wives would come home to a hot dinner and the kids doing the homework while the hubby washed the pots and pans. The feeling you got watching it was no matter how "weird" these families seemed to the outside world,their day to day home lives weren't any different from anybody else,they just had a different way of living. I say if it works for them great. As long as nobody is being forced why should the state give a damn who they kiss goodnight. But as always this is my 02c,YMMV

"Married people live longer" is inaccurate

[echtertyp]

Mortality rates for married vs. single are based on people born in the 1930s or even 1920s. For those age cohorts, only the very sickly or very ugly did not get married, it was standard issue social behavior for their time. Correlation != causation, as always. Being married did not make people healthy, it was the other way around. Now, look at people today and it's obvious to a casual observer that a whole different dynamic is at work. The data backs it up: not only are the people who stay single happier ( http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/women-are-happiest-with-first-love-and-men-with-serial-monogamy-study-finds-577451.html ) but they don't get as fat as married people (http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-10-22-marriage-weight_N.htm ). Again, this is stating the obvious for any single guy or gal who's watched misery and widening waistlines begin to make their mark on newly married couples after about 2 years. Marriage not only makes people miserable, it will probably shorten your life if you're born after 1970.

Re:Nah

[falconwolf]

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, what that is is polygyny. 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. And when a woman has more than one spouse that's polyandry.

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" where both men and women have more than one partner.

Falcon

Re:Islam and polygamy

[jabithew]

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.