There is loads of research that demonstrates that married people are happier and live longer than single people including this study just released by Michigan State University and published in the Journal of Research in Personality – and Veraquest’s own research also from June of this year. It appears that married men and women, (whether young or old, wealthy or not) are more likely than single, never-married adults to….
Single adults (specifically, those who have never been married) appear more able to relax and do nothing. So they have us married folks beat there, but relaxation may be over-rated because other than that, married couples appear to have hit the happiness jackpot.
Now there is some outstanding chicken/egg question on whether folks who choose to get married are happier to begin with…. In other words, does marriage beget happiness or vice versa? According to the Michigan State research, married adults are no happier than they were when they were single – but being married appears to stave off some of the normal declines in happiness that would have occurred as adults get older.
Our research doesn’t necessarily corroborate the impact of aging on happiness in that we find that seniors (those ages 65 and over) are actually more likely to say they….
- Are happy (than those ages 30-64) – 94% vs. 91%
- Live life to the fullest (than those ages 40-64) – 86% vs. 79%
- Love life (than those ages 30-64) – 94% vs. 86%
And less likely to say they…
- Want a re-do on their life (than those under 50) – 62% vs. 73%
- Are constantly multi-tasking and not – editorial note – taking time to smell the roses (than those under 50) – 81% vs. 91%
- Are just getting by (than those under 65) – 63% vs. 76%
But another piece of compelling marital news …. Similar to last year, about 2 in 3 married couples say they are completely and totally in love; which means about 1 in 3 aren’t. And 32% of single adults say they too are quite “in love.” So I am now wondering perhaps if love may be the basis for all this happiness rather than marriage. That analysis coming soon…
Leave a Reply