New Gallup data on well-being by family status

Those living in families weathered the COVID-19 crisis much better than those who are not, with many families growing closer together over the past two years, according to new US research from Gallup.

Among other things, their COVID Tracking Survey measures current life satisfaction across different demographic brackets, namely those who are married or unmarried crossed with those with or without children.

In a post by the Institute of Family Studies, Professor Christos A. Makridis, says the data shows those who are not married and have no children have the least level of current life satisfaction, and, notably, their life satisfaction never recovers even two years into COVID-19 by the end of 2021.

Moreover, the proportion of people who are thriving at a given point in time shows those who are married with children have higher rates of flourishing.

Regarding rates of loneliness. The unmarried are substantially more likely to feel lonely, ranging between 30-40 percent. In contrast, married Americans have much lower rates of loneliness, around 20 percent.