Lyman Stone, my favorite demographer - okay, the only demographer I know by name - has a go at the data to see what it shows. There are some strong showings, some modest ones, and a good deal of messiness from which solid conclusions should not be drawn. Does Getting Married Really Make You Happier? Right off, he looks at the possibility that happier people get married, for which there is some evidence. However, he eventually finds that unpersuasive.
In general, marriage seems to raise subjective happiness scores, definitely in the short run and less so in the long run, but noticeably.
Stone is a research fellow at the Institute of Family Studies. Lots of good articles at the link, including fertility crisis, a long series on boys at school, and the effect of AI girlfriends.
1 comment:
Dropping a marker before I go read the links: In the 90's when I got deeply into the social-science literature, being married was worth an extra decade of lifespan for men, and had no effect on lifespan of women.
The conclusion that I came to then was that the key to happiness was long-lasting close friendships, something women seem to be inherently better at than men.
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