Marriage, Then Happiness?
- Brian Page
- May 15
- 2 min read
Marriage, Then Happiness?
Over the last fifty years, American happiness levels have been fairly high, with marriage emerging as a key component, according to research by Sam Peltzman from Chicago Booth.
Peltzman's analysis draws on nearly five decades of data from the General Social Survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago.
Since 1972, this survey has consistently shown that about 70 percent of U.S. adults describe themselves as either "very happy" or "pretty happy," compared to 30 percent who report being "not too happy."
Despite a decline in the percentage of married Americans—from a majority in 1972 to just around 50 percent today—marriage appears to significantly boost happiness. Married individuals are consistently 30 percentage points happier than their unmarried counterparts.
Dr. Wilcox is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia, where he directs the National Marriage Project and a senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies. We spoke to Dr. Wilcox in a past episode of the Modern Husbands Podcast.
“Nothing predicts happiness in life better than a good marriage—not even a hefty bank account or a great career.” - Dr. Brad Wilcox
As he shared on our podcast, his findings were similar to the findings of Dr. Peltzman.
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Related: Marriage, Is It Worth It?
Happiness, Then Marriage
However, Peltzman advises caution in interpreting these results, suggesting that the relationship between happiness and marriage is bidirectional: happy people are more likely to get married, and marriage tends to increase happiness.
Researchers have found that people who are married report higher life satisfaction as a result of their marital status.
But the increase in happiness is very small -- approximately one tenth of one point on an 11-point scale -- and is likely due to initial reactions to marriage and then a return to prior happiness levels.
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