Marriage is the “the most important differentiator” of who is happy in America, and that falling marriage rates are a chief reason for why happiness has declined nationally, according to new research from the University of Chicago [1].
Surveying thousands of respondents, it revealed a startling 30-percentage-point happiness divide between married and unmarried Americans.
This happiness boost held true for both men and women.
“Marital status is and has been a very important marker for happiness,” researcher Sam Peltzman concludes. “The happiness landslide comes entirely from the married. Low happiness characterizes all types of non-married. No subsequent population categorization will yield so large a difference in happiness across so many people.”
Commenting on the news, sociologists W. Bradford Wilcox and David Bass said it further confirms that Americans who are married with children are now leading happier and more prosperous lives, on average, than men and women who are single and childless.