Changes in Marital Status

Lucas, R., Clark, A., Yannis, G., Diener, E. (2003).
Reexamining adaptation and the set point model of Happiness:
Reactions to changes in marital status.
Retrieved November 20, 2009, from:
http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/psp843527.pdf


I found this article to be very interesting. One often hears the statement that your never happy alone, or life is always better with a partner. I found a study that was done with 12,000 residents in private households of Germany. These residents were contacted over the phone or face to face, and given a survey about their marital status and happiness.
The results showed that people who were married were just as happy and satisfied as those who were single. Everyone has life changing experiences such as getting married, winning a large amount of money, or getting a promotion. Although these times make one very excited and raise self-esteem dramatically, overtime these high levels of happiness return right back to normal. In the end one's life satisfaction will remain about the same from day one until life is over.
I believe this study should be looked at again with a range of different cultures. The meaning of marriage, and beliefs about marriage change between cultures. This study should also be done with different age groups. It would be interesting to see if young couples are happier than older couples. Kepping in mind the younger couples are still working along with many other activites, therefore would recieve many breaks from one another. The older retired couples seem to be around each other a lot more on a day to day basis. I wonder if these time frames would change the level of happiness in a couples relationship.
Marissa Steele