By: Laurie Edwards for Body1
It’s pretty obvious that it’s harder to be unhappy when you are surrounded by optimism. But does this mean anything for married couples? British researchers found that cultivating individual happiness has an added benefit: Increasing the happiness of one’s spouse. Its simplicity makes a lot of sense – if you love someone, you are happier he or she is happy, but this is the first time this basic premise has been tested scientifically.
| At a Glance |
Marital Health Benefits:
According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
Married adults are less likely than other adults to be in fair or poor health and are less likely to suffer from headaches or serious psychological distress.
Married adults are less likely to smoke, drink heavily or be physically inactive. Married men, however, are more likely to be overweight or obese than single men. |
In fact, in many cases, this happiness is enough to outweigh the stress of such negative life events as unemployment or hospitalization, but such effects did not extend to cohabiting couples.
With so much attention on the skyrocketing divorce rate in the Unites States – current consensus is that one of every two marriages will end in divorce – and the ongoing debate over whether living together provides the same satisfaction and happiness as marriage, the study is a significant one.
| Learn More |
1. New research contends that the current method of calculating divorce rate is flawed since the number of people who divorce each year does not equal the number of people who marry each year. To see the entire article,
click here
2. The standard view on divorce rates is that it occurs in one in every two marriages. To see a breakdown of US divorce rates on a national and state level, visit:
The National Center for Health Statistics
3. According to U.S. Census information, four million households are comprised of cohabiting couples.
4. Experts estimate that one of every three single women will choose to live with her partner before marriage. |
Researchers at the University of Warwick measured levels of satisfaction with life among 9,704 married people based on the assumption that the more satisfied a spouse is with his or her life, that satisfaction will inevitably spill over to the spouse.
“A married man is significantly more satisfied with his life when his wife becomes more satisfied with hers, and vice versa,” said researcher Nick Powdthavee.
Taking a subjective concept like happiness and applying concrete scientific analysis to it is tricky, but to do so, Powdthavee asked couples about their education, income, health, and overall level of life satisfaction. Applying psychological concepts and mathematical formulas to the surveys, he found a clear statistical jump in a couple’s satisfaction when even one partner ratcheted up his or her own feeling of fulfillment.
“It is significantly greater than the effect of owning a house outright; it can completely offset the non-[financial] cost of unemployment; it is equal to not having to spend around two months in the hospital last year,” said Powdthavee.
Another way to look at those figures is to consider it based on a 30 percent increase in the spouse not experiencing those challenges.
Interestingly, researchers did not find the same extension of happiness from one partner to another in unmarried couples who were living together.
Though researchers are not entirely sure of why this is, they speculate it is because unmarried couples are less committed than married ones and are more concerned with individual well-being than the well-being of the significant other.
According to Powdthavee, such findings are consistent with previous studies showing that couples who live together before they are married have higher break-up rates and eventual failure in marriage than those who don’t.
While the study is an affirming one for married couples, it comes with a caveat: As divorce rates clearly show, marriage in no way guarantees happiness. Communication, forgiveness and willingness to work on trouble spots in the marriage are proven components of successful marriages.
One additional point the study doesn’t address? It is obviously possible to be happy and concerned about others outside the institution of marriage.
