Whether you are writing about chocolate, the holiday's
commercial aura or longtime married couples, the UC Davis
faculty has a broad expertise for Valentine's Day stories. If
you need information on a topic not listed, please contact
the UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-1930.



GOOD RELATIONSHIPS OFFER HEALTH BOOST


Being in a loving marital relationship is very good for
people's health, says Carolyn Aldwin, UC Davis professor of
human development. "Most of the studies show that love is
particularly protective for men's health," she adds.
Ironically, women suffer the most from health problems due to
distressed marriages. "With bad marriages, so much of a
woman's identity is her marital relationship that she may
have a harder time coping," Aldwin says. For the past 16
years she has been studying these aspects in two longitudinal
studies of Americans. Aldwin will publish a book on aging and
health this year. Contacts: Carolyn Aldwin, Human and
Community Development, (530) 752-2415, cmaldwin@ucdavis.edu;
Susanne Rockwell, News Service, (530) 752-9841,
sgrockwell@ucdavis.edu.



LONGTIME LOVERS LEARN TO TURN A DEAF EAR


The elderly in successful marriages have learned how to avoid
contempt, anger and whining about their spouse, says UC Davis
psychologist Phillip Shaver, who studies love and
relationships. "In long-term marriages, people have many
fewer strong negative emotions," he says. "They sidestep
certain issues because they have agreed to disagree and still
be affectionate." When an elderly person loses a long-term
partner, the relationship isn't necessarily over, Shaver
adds. "They reorganize the relationship in their mind to
continue communicating with someone who isn't there," he
says. Shaver is co-editor of the "Handbook of Attachment:
Theory, Research and Clinical Application." Contacts: Phillip
Shaver, Psychology, (530) 754-8304, (530) 752-1884,
prshaver@ucdavis.edu; Susanne Rockwell, News Service, (530)
752-9841, sgrockwell@ucdavis.edu.



DESPITE COMMERCIALISM, FOLK TRADITION ENDURES


Originally, St. Valentine's Day marked the time when people
singled out their sweetheart and sent them a greeting of
love. Even though Valentine's Day has become so
commercialized that people assume the best way to express
affection is through giving store-bought gifts, they find
ways to keep faith with the original folk tradition, says Jay
Mechling, UC Davis professor of American studies and a
folklore scholar. Mechling points out that on college
campuses, where Valentine's Day gifts have become a big
business, as well as elsewhere, people are able to make those
commercial expressions personal and sincere. Contacts: Jay
Mechling, American Studies, (530) 752-9043,
jemechling@ucdavis.edu; Susanne Rockwell, News Service, (530)
752-9841, sgrockwell@ucdavis.edu.



LOVE IS HARD-WIRED


Love is a major biological force, says UC Davis psychologist
Phillip Shaver. He has spent the past 14 years studying how
humans need to love and be loved and what impedes them.
Adults form intimate relationships similarly to how they
attached as infants with their mothers during a time of
special vulnerability, Shaver says. Adult love relationships
become both safe havens from the outside world and secure
bases from which individuals venture forth into society.
Shaver is co-editor of the "Handbook of Attachment: Theory,
Research and Clinical Application." Contacts: Phillip Shaver,
Psychology, (530) 754-8304, (530) 752-1884,
prshaver@ucdavis.edu; Susanne Rockwell, News Service, (530)
752-9841, sgrockwell@ucdavis.edu.



GAY AND LESBIAN YOUTHS LEFT OUT


Valentine's Day is an exciting time for many preteens and
teen-agers because of their growing interest in intimacy,
relationships and sexuality. However, the day may be
particularly isolating for gay and lesbian youths, says
Stephen Russell, a specialist in teen-age sexuality at UC
Davis and director of the 4-H Center for Youth Development.
These youths have few opportunities to experience
relationships and dating experiences. To counteract that
isolation, schools and youth organizations should pay
attention to the messages about Valentine's Day and ensure
that young people, whatever their sexual orientation, feel
supported, Russell says. He heads the Bridge for Adolescent
Pregnancy, Parenting and Sexuality, a national program run by
universities that addresses adolescent pregnancy, parenting
and sexuality in communities across the United States.
Contacts: Stephen Russell, Human and Community Development,
(530) 752-7069, (530) 754-8433, strussell@ucdavis.edu;
Susanne Rockwell, News Service, (530) 752-9841,
sgrockwell@ucdavis.edu.



CHOCOLATE IS MORE THAN A VALENTINE'S GIFT


Long before it was being passed around as a delectable
Valentine's Day offering, chocolate played an important role
as both food and medicine in many cultures, according to a UC
Davis nutrition professor. In studying the history of
chocolate, nutritional geographer Louis Grivetti found that
the medicinal uses of chocolate have been documented for more
than 450 years. In manuscripts from the 16th century to the
early 20th century, he found more than 100 medicinal uses for
chocolate, ranging from a treatment for emaciated patients to
a stimulus for the nervous system of apathetic or exhausted
people. It also was used to improve digestion and elimination
and to treat anemia, poor appetite, mental fatigue, low
breast-milk production, tuberculosis, fever, gout, kidney
stones and low sexual appetite. Grivetti's research focuses
on the cultural history of food nutrition. Contacts: Louis
Grivetti, Nutrition, (530) 752-2078, legrivetti@ucdavis.edu;
Patricia Bailey, News Service, (530) 752-9843,
pjbailey@ucdavis.edu.



COURTLY LOVE WAS A LAUGH


Chaucer, Eleanor of Aquitaine and others in the European
Middle Ages would be quite amused if they saw how we
seriously we take love, says UC Davis medieval scholar Kevin
Roddy. "We think romance is everything, but they thought that
relationships were meant to be durable and not based on
passion." Roddy suspects that the idea of "courtly love" --
that a man would love from a distance and perform acts of
chivalry in his lady love's honor without her knowledge --
was a joke played on each other by such people as Eleanor of
Aquitaine and her court. When exercised at court, passionate
acts of love made men look ridiculous. Contacts: Kevin Roddy,
Medieval Studies, (530) 752-4541, kproddy@ucdavis.edu;
Susanne Rockwell, News Service, (530) 752-9841,
sgrockwell@ucdavis.edu.