Stand-up comics have long made jokes about discontented husbands and wives. But, seriously folks, new research by Michigan State University psychologists has found married people are happier in the long run than those who are single.
The study, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, finds that although matrimony does not necessarily make people happier than when they were single, being married appears to blunt normal declines in happiness that occur during adulthood as people age.
"Our study suggests that people on average are happier than they would have been if they didn't get married," said Stevie C.Y. Yap, a researcher in MSU's Department of Psychology.
For the study, Yap and colleagues examined the experiences of thousands of participants in a long-running British survey to determine the factors that help people adapt to major life events. They found those who did not get married showed a gradual decline in happiness as the years passed.
But married people largely bucked this trend, with their levels of satisfaction with life remaining relatively stable as they aged.