Want a successful marriage? Make sure you have sex when you're ready.
According to a new study, women who are sexually active early in their adolescence--specifically, before age 16--are more likely to divorce.
Researchers at the University of Iowa used the responses of 3,793 women who are married or have been married at some point in their lives from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth to examine the relationship between the age at which they had their first sexual experience, and the success of their first marriage.
At first glance, the findings seemed alarming: multiple outlets (including this one), reported that up to 47 percent of women who lost their virginity during their teen years divorced within 10 years of getting married--implying that women who lose their virginity during adolescence will inevitably face conflict in their later adult relationships.
In fact, while the age at which sex first occurred was significant in determining women’s likelihood to divorce, more important was whether that sex qualified as “wanted." That's because the earlier women had their first sexual experience, the less frequently the sex was actually wanted. In short, the study's conclusions were less about the correlation between when a girl loses her virginity and her risk of divorce than it was about how the nature of the first sexual experience affects later romantic relationships.
While some of the initial reports about the study alluded to this point, they often did not explore it completely, so we decided to go to the source--lead researcher Anthony Paik--to shed more light on this surprisingly complicated study.
Even in the aftermath of a "mancession," it's the women that say they are most struggling most mightily.
Women report experiencing nearly twice as much “high or overwhelming” financial stress as men, according to a new survey by Financial Finesse Inc. Indeed, 28 percent of women reported experiencing “high or overwhelming financial stress" during the first quarter of 2011, while only 17 percent of men reported having that same level of stress.
Women also are three times as likely to experience “overwhelming” financial stress -- the highest level listed -- at a rate of 9 percent. And of all employees surveyed, 65 percent reported experiencing some financial stress, the study added.
Women were most likely to feel a higher level of stress because of their larger sense of obligation to raising their children and safeguarding their home, said Gregory Ward, head research analyst at Financial Finesse Inc., according to Bloomberg News.
That additional obligation has adverse health effects. Financial stress causes an estimated 60 percent of illnesses, directly or indirectly, and the American Psychological Association has identified it as the leading cause of unhealthy behaviors such as overeating, smoking, and alcohol and drug addiction, according to the report.
The situation for women could get worse before it gets better. Deficit reductions that are currently being considered by Congress would hurt women’s Social Security benefits even more than men’s Social Security benefits, since women live longer and rely more on Social Security, according to a new report by the National Women’s Law Center.
Since older women already are more economically vulnerable than men, the report says, deficit cuts would leave elderly women unable to meet many basic needs.
The dim economic situation seems to have even changed the way women think about marriage. Three out of four women would not marry a jobless man, and 65 percent said they would feel uncomfortable marrying someone else if they themselves were unemployed, according to a recent ForbesWoman survey.
Kim Kardashian Wedding weightSay adios to Kim Kardashian's signature curves. The 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' raven-haired beauty is going double time when it comes to dropping some lbs before her big day.
After a fan of Kardashian's tweeted, "On my way to GNC to by some QuickTrim," the reality star retweeted with, "Take some for me! I'm about to start again! #wedding slimdown."
So can we expect Kardashian to be strutting her stuff down the aisle without the curves that made her famous? Not quite. Kardashian told Us Weekly that she isn't planning on losing her fiancé, Kris Humphries' favorite part of her body: "Obviously, my butt."
Plus, she's proud of her voluptuous figure in an industry filled with stick thin model types.
"Our parents raised us to be comfortable in our own skin," she said. "Now I think we like to wear tight things, we love feeling good, taking care of ourselves, wearing what we want."
But even though she's embracing her curves, like any bride-to-be, she wants to look her best when she puts on her white gown and becomes Mrs. Humphries.
A woman has reportedly died from the shock of coming to life at her own funeral.
Fagilyu Mukhametzyanov, 49, was wrongly declared dead by doctors, but she actually died after hearing people pray for her soul in Kazan, Russia, according to the Daily Mail.
She was taken back to a hospital where she was declared dead, this time for good.
"Her eyes fluttered and we immediately rushed her back to the hospital but she only lived for another 12 minutes," her husband, Fagili Mukhametzyanov, said, according to the Daily News.
Mukhametzyanov said he plans to sue the hospital, which says it is conducting an investigation of the incident.
Her final cause of death was heart failure, according to reports. Her "first death" was also heart-related, a suspected heart attack.
This isn't the first time a funeral has taken an unexpected twist. In recent years, a man showed up alive for his own funeral in Brazil and a premature baby declared dead woke up before his own funeral before dying shortly after in Paraguay.
Reality star Kim Kardashian is so sick of people questioning whether her behind is real or not, that she went and got an X-ray to prove that it is all natural and not enhanced. UsMagazine.com is reporting that Kim went to her family doctor to help her prove that her ass was real and not her enhanced with implants.
In an upcoming episode of the reality show 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians,' Kim goes to her family doctor and tells him, "My sisters have dared me to get a butt X-ray. I really just want to get [it] so I can show the whole world."
Her sister Khloe suggests a more hands on approach by the doctor, "You could just feel her ass up and see if it's real. You're a doctor -- you'll know."
Khloe later on went to say, "The fact that Kim is actually laying on a table and actually getting an X-ray of her ass is, like, [her butt is] iconic. Are you serious?!"
Khloe later tweeted the image of Kim and her x-ray saying, "Kim got a butt X-Ray... See, it's REAL!!! LOL"
Alyson Hannigan grew up in Hollywood. And Hollywood has grown up with her.
The gentle, always smiling actress made her commercial debut as a child, starred in "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and then shot to true stardom as the awkward, flute-loving prom date to Jason Biggs' pie-loving character in the first "American Pie" film.
Each subsequent sequel of the dessert defiling series brought the awkward crew to a new stage in their lives, from high school to college to, in 2003, marriage. It's become a generation-defining trilogy, and to hear Hannigan tell it, a total surprise, too.
"With the first one, they had put some sort of sequel clause in my contract and I was like, 'ahh, I wouldn't be in a sequel,'" she laughed in a conversation with The Huffington Post. "'There's no way. My character leaves at the end of the movie, so even if there was a sequel, I wouldn't be in it.' And here we are."
Where Hannigan is, exactly, is Atlanta, filming "American Reunion." Thirteen years after Jim and co. pledged to lose their virginity, their high school reunion brings them all back together. And as unlikely as it seems that the kid who crotch dived into a pie is the father of perky band girl's child, that progeny is a major player in the new film. Continuing the pattern, Hannigan has a child now, too.
"I haven't met my child yet for the film but I'll meet him today, I hope he likes me and I hope my daughter doesn't get jealous that I'm holding some other kid. I'll have some explaining to do," she laughed. "Like, 'why is that kid calling you mommy?' I don't know how old the actor kid is, but he's playing two, and my daughter's two, so they're probably in the same ballpark. I'm hoping they're in the same weight category, because I'm only just holding my daughter who is 25 pounds, if he's much heavier, I could struggle."
Which, of course, would actually be pretty funny.
Beyond the child, though, there are many old cast members to catch up with. If you've imagined what crazy paths Stiffler, Finch, Jim and the gang may have taken, you may just see them on the big screen. And that real life awkwardness at high school reunions? Not in this one.
In what is becoming one of the most meta marketing campaigns in recent movie memory, Disney has released a new trailer for their upcoming film, "The Muppets." And it's even more self-aware than ever.
The third in its movie parody series, "Being Green" spoofs the upcoming superhero epic, "The Green Lantern," the Ryan Reynolds-flick set for release this weekend. Kermit, of course, takes on the green hero role, and a Reynolds-esque voiceover plays throughout.
But in what is a new twist, Jason Segal, who wrote and is co-starring in the film, actually revolts against the concept against fake trailers. Within the fake trailer. Mind blowing.
Fishermen are gearing up and hunters are taking aim – for Marcellus Shale gas drilling. A new coalition of outdoors groups is emerging as a potent force in the debate over natural gas drilling. The Sportsmen Alliance for Marcellus Conservation isn't against the process of fracking for gas, but its members want to make sure the rush to cash in on the valuable resource doesn't damage streams, forests, and the various creatures that call those places home.
The movement grew out of grass-roots anger as passionate outdoorsmen found their questions about drilling and wildlife brought few answers from local or state officials.
"Either we didn't get a response or the answer we got didn't seem feasible or acceptable. It didn't seem like the people who were in charge had their pulse on what was actually happening," said Ken Dufalla of Clarksville, Pa.
Energy companies have identified major reserves of natural gas throughout the Marcellus Shale, which underlies much of New York and Pennsylvania, and parts of Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia.
More than 3,300 wells have been drilled across Pennsylvania in just the last few years. The boom has raised concerns about the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a drilling technique in which water, sand and a small amount of chemicals are used to open gas-bearing shale formations deep underground.
Already, preliminary water testing by sportsmen is showing consistently high levels of bromides and total dissolved solids in some streams near fracking operations, Dufalla said. Bromide is a salt that reacts with the chlorine disinfectants used by drinking water systems and creates trihalomethanes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says trihalomethanes can be harmful to people who drink water with elevated levels for many years.
Dufalla stands alongside Whiteley Creek, a little mountain stream in Greene County. But something is wrong. The grass is lush and the woods are green, but the water is cloudy and dead-looking.
"It used to be a nice stream," teeming with minnows, crawfish and other aquatic life, he told The Associated Press. No more, said Dufalla, a former deputy game and fish warden for Pennsylvania.
