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Article about married people are happier than unmarried people:
Married Americans Thriving at Higher Rates Than Unmarried Adults. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Marital rates in the U.S.


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have been declining in recent decades. The reasons for this trend have been debated by social scientists and include changes in cultural values and behaviors, like religious participation, in response to rising material prosperity. The General Social Survey documented a decline between 1988 and 2012 in the percentage of U.S. adults who agreed that married people are generally happier than unmarried people. But Gallup wellbeing data from 2009 to 2023 find that married people are much more likely to be thriving in their wellbeing than adults who have never married, are divorced or are living with a domestic partner. Gallup classifies Americans as thriving," "struggling" or "suffering" according to how they rate their current and future lives on a ladder scale with steps numbered from zero to 10, based on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale. Those who rate their current life a 7 or higher and their anticipated life in five years an 8 or higher are classified as thriving. From 2009 to 2023, married adults aged 25 to 50 were more likely to be thriving -- by double-digit margins -- than adults who have never married. The 16-percentage-point gap between married adults (61%) and those who have never married (45%) in 2023 is within the range of 10 to 24 points recorded since 2009. Married adults have also been consistently more likely than those in a domestic partnership to rate their lives highly enough to be considered thriving. The higher wellbeing of married adults relative to those who have never married can be found for men and women across all major racial/ethnic groups. Statistical models show that the association between marriage and wellbeing is also not explained by educational attainment or age. One indication of why married people express higher subjective wellbeing is that the quality of their romantic relationship tends to be higher, according to Gallup research conducted via a web survey using Gallup's probability-based panel in June-July 2023. Family Relationships Are Stronger, Less Fraught When Parents Are Married. Gallup asked adults living with children between the ages of 3 and 19 to rate the relationship with their spouse or romantic partner -- if in an exclusive relationship -- on a zero-to-10 scale, with zero being the weakest and least loving relationship they can imagine and 10 being the strongest and most loving. The same survey also asked those in an exclusive relationship, “In the past 30 days, how many days have you felt like you could not speak to your spouse/partner because you were angry with them or they were angry with you?” A high proportion of married couples living with children report being in a strong and loving relationship with their spouse (83%), whereas only 69% of those in a domestic partnership and 61% of those in a non-domestic exclusive relationship report the same. Likewise, married couples are nearly half as likely as unmarried couples to report two or more occasions per 30-day period in which they or their partner were too angry to speak. While the data are limited to adults living with children, the results may be more broadly applicable, as other research on relationship quality suggests. Bottom Line. Within the U.S., it is clear that married adults rate their lives more highly than others and have done so for the past 15 years. This association is not explained by other demographic characteristics -- such as age, race/ethnicity or education -- that are more common among married people than those who are single. Married people are also more likely to practice a religion, and religious practice is also positively correlated with subjective wellbeing. Still, the positive association between marriage and wellbeing is found among religious adherents and adults who are atheists or agnostic. Yet, many reasons could be given for why this pattern exists. Married people may possess long-term personality traits and characteristics that tend to make life better for themselves and their intimate relationships. However, this is unlikely to entirely explain the positive association between marriage and wellbeing, since the institution of marriage -- with its cultural, social and legal implications -- likely affects behaviors and attitudes in important ways that enhance wellbeing. Through its formal and informal commitments, marriage raises the costs of terminating a relationship. Logically, this should encourage greater partner selection, as well as greater investments and effort to develop and maintain a high-quality relationship. The data on relationship quality and marriage are consistent with this prediction. Even apart from physical attraction, having a strong intimate relationship with another adult is widely regarded as a desirable situation, and marriage makes this more likely. Marriage also increases the likelihood of having children and is associated with better relationships with those children, as previous Gallup research has shown. To stay up to date with the latest Gallup News insights and updates, follow us on Twitter . Learn more about how the Gallup Panel works. Survey Methods. Gallup Wellbeing Index. Data from 2020 to 2023 are based on responses (respectively) from 13,595 adults aged 25 to 50 per year who are married, have never married, are divorced, or are in a domestic partnership. Other marital situations (e.g., widowed or separated) were too infrequent to produce reliable estimates. For married adults, the margin of error on thriving ranges from ±0.7 to ±1.7 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, depending on the year. It is somewhat higher for single/never married, ranging from ±1.3 to ±2.6 percentage points. All respondents were living in one of the 50 U.S. states or the District of Columbia and were part of the Gallup Panel, collected via web. Data from 2009 to 2019 are based on yearly averages of 78,173 responses from adults aged 25 to 50. These data are based on surveys conducted daily from Jan. 2, 2009, to Dec. 30, 2019. Each daily sample of national adults for data collected between Jan. 2, 2014, and Sept. 1, 2015, comprised 50% cellphone respondents and 50% landline respondents. Each daily sample from Sept. 1, 2015, to Dec. 30, 2016, comprised 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents. Daily samples in 2017 comprised 70% cellphone respondents and 30% landline respondents. Additional minimum quotas by time zone and within region are included in the sampling approach. Samples are weighted to correct for unequal selection probability, nonresponse and double coverage of landline and cell users in the two sampling frames. They are also weighted to match the national demographics of gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, population density and phone status (cellphone only/landline only/both and cellphone mostly). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2019 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older U.S. population. Population density targets are based on the 2010 census. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting.













Married people are happier than unmarried people


Are married couples happier than unmarried couples