Has Tiger Woods hurt marriage's image?

• Position: Your Life - Brief article

Tiger Woods' rampant infidelities do not affect the status of marriage and the family because his lifestyle and wealth are regarded by most Americans as an exception to the rule while his behavior is seen as attached to the lifestyle, indicates Sampson Blair, associate professor of sociology at the University at Buffalo (N.Y.).

"Most Americans tend to regard the marriages and subsequent divorces of celebrities as not representative of the 'typical' American marriage in the first place. As E Scott Fitzgerald wrote, 'The very rich are different from you and me'--an opinion most Americans seem to share.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"What goes on within marriages of the very wealthy--whether it's divorce, domestic violence, or even a simple spat--is always fodder for gossip magazines, which present it as more dramatic than the experiences of most of us. It is highly unlikely, for instance, that the...