The concept has always been given a lot of importance in human society. It is one of those that somehow transcend cultures, religions, regions and more with almost all communities laying a lot of emphasis on it and how it is ‘necessary’ or a rite of passage that every person should take part in.
However, a recent poll took a statistical look at whether marriage really affects the levels of happiness people feel in their lives or not.
What Does Survey Say?
The Gallup Poll published on 9th February 2024 surveyed over 2.5 million adults from the United States from the years 2009 to 2023.
These adults were surveyed on what rating they would give their current life along with what the participants felt would be their happiness level after five years with the ranking being zero for worst and 10 being the highest rating.
As per the survey for a person’s quality of life to come under the ‘thriving’ mark they would have to rank their life seven or above with their future being ranked 8 or above.
It was noticed in the survey though that the people who would more often rate a higher level of happiness were married as compared to the unmarried participants. According to the data, married people’s happiness levels were “ranging from 12% to 24% higher depending on the year.”
Read More: ResearchED: With Supreme Court Not Recognising Same-Sex Marriage, What Lies Ahead For Queer Couples
Bradford Wilcox, professor of sociology and director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia commented on this saying “Things like race and age and gender and education matter. But marriage seems to matter more than those things when it comes to something like this measure of kind of living your best life.”
Wilcox who edited and reviewed the research also said “We’re social animals. And as Aristotle said, we are hardwired to connect.”
Rothwell, however, also commented that this doesn’t confirm whether marriage is a reason for more happiness. The survey claims that the cause of this could also be due to the people who have qualities that help them in having a lifestyle geared toward steady happiness are the same ones who look for marriage.
Rothwell commented “There’s also famously, for men anyway, a premium associated with being married in terms of earning higher income,” and that “There’s lots of debate in the literature about whether that’s because more successful, charming, intelligent men who have attributes that would lead them to earn more in the labor market are more likely to get married.”
The researcher also added that the quality of marriage also affects the level of happiness as societies, where people have the privilege of choosing their partner and marital status, might show more happiness as compared to where people see marriage as just a practical necessity.
O’Neal also added that an unhappy marriage can mean a lower level of happiness stating “I still believe that those who have unhappy marriages, are probably less happy than those who are single.”
Rothwell concluded by saying “I don’t think we’re ever going to get to a point in social science where we can say whether or not and with any precision whether marriage causes happiness.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: CNN, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Axios
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: married people happier, married people, does marriage make you happier, marriage, marriage news, marriage poll, society, community, happiness, adults, singles
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