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.

Love is good medicine

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.