The Changing Relationship of Marital Status to Reported Happiness

Abstract

US national survey data show a steady decline from 1972 through 1986 in the positive relationship between being married and reported happiness. The change occurred primarily through an increase in the reported happiness of never-married males and a decrease in the reported happiness of married females. Given the well-documented changes that have occurred in American marriages and non-marital heterosexual relationships such a change should have been expected. In many respects differencies in the circumstances of married and unmarried persons have lessened. For instance for at least a substantial proportion of unmarried persons regular sexual relations without stigma have become available and now that divorce can easily be obtained by any spouse marriage no longer provides the security financial or otherwise that it once did. It is time to question the belief that the institution of marriage in this society remains as strong and viable as ever. That it could remain as strong as ever is doubtful in view of evidence that Americans are becoming increasingly individualistic and less committed to social groups of all kinds.