In Brief

By David Bjerklie

CLASSMATES Familiarity breeds respect--or at least safer sex. Teens are more likely to use condoms or other contraceptives when their sexual partners are the same age and at the same school, according to researchers at the University of Michigan. The younger partner in a mismatched couple, the researchers suggest, may have a harder time saying no to unprotected sex. Condom use increases the longer the relationship lasts and the more teens characterize it as romantic, the study found.

TILL DEATH DO US PART It is what every senior couple dreads--one of the two becomes terminally ill, and the other strains under the grim burden of caring for a dying mate. The stress often takes a physical toll, but these caregivers suffer less depression, lose less weight and take better care of themselves after the death of their spouse than someone whose husband or wife dies suddenly, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Why? The foreknowledge of the death allows the caregiver to grieve as well as prepare for the death. Also, surviving spouses often benefit from a support system that sprang up during the caregiving period.

WEDDED STRESS Marital strife can harm your health, and for years it was thought that men suffered more ill effects because of their heightened physiological response during conflict. Not so, according to recent studies cited by psychologist Scott Stanley, co-author of the newly revised book Fighting for Your Marriage. Women seem to bear the brunt of it, says Stanley, because they tend to feel more responsible for the outcome of the marriage and yet cannot single-handedly effect change.

--By David Bjerklie