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MARRIAGE ADVERTISEMENT

Does Marriage Actually Make

David Ludden Ph.D.
People Happier?
Talking Apes ... and how it affects men and women differently.
Posted December 17, 2021 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods

KEY POINTS
THE BASICS

Married people are generally happier than singles, but psychologists

Making Marriage debate whether marriage causes or selects for happiness.
Work
The current study finds that women get a boost in happiness just before
the wedding, and men just after it, but it doesn’t last.
Find a marriage
therapist near me Happy marriages are built by happy partners who have realistic
expectations about their future life together.

Decades of research have shown that people who are married are, on aver‐
age, happier and healthier than those who are not. However, researchers
still debate the reason for this.

One explanation is that marriage causes better physical and psychological

health outcomes. Couples provide support for each other in ways that
friends or family members may not be able to. And just knowing that you
have someone to rely on can give you the strength to face the challenges Marriage Essential Reads
that life throws your way.

Four Types of Marriage:

Married couples also encourage their partners to lead healthy lives. For in‐ Which One Is Yours?
stance, the irregular eating and heavy drinking habits that are so often a
part of the single lifestyle are detrimental to both mental and physical health
Why Do Couples Really
in the long run. In contrast, the settled lifestyle of a married couple, with its Fight About Money?
regular meals, reduced drinking, and relatively fixed social network provides
health benefits.
Does Merging Finances
Lead to Marital Bliss or
Another explanation is that marriage selects people who are already healthy Disaster?

and happy. After all, it’s easier to attract a mate if you’ve got a pleasant per‐
The Living Apart Together
sonality and reasonably good looks. Likewise, people who are in poor Marriage, and Who It
health or who suffer from mental disorders are less likely to get married, and Works For
this alone could be what accounts for the observation that married people
are happier in general than those who are single. A World Without Marriage

Does Marriage Cause or Select for Happiness?

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To further explore this question of whether marriage causes or selects for

health and happiness, University of Denver psychologist Charlie Huntington
and colleagues conducted a study that followed 168 soon-to-be-married in‐
dividuals through their transition into married life. The results of this study
were recently reported in the Journal of Family Psychology.

The participants were surveyed every four months over a nearly two-year
span. Each time, they responded to questions that assessed their general
health, alcohol use, life satisfaction, and psychological distress. In this way,
the researchers could detect changes in physical and mental health in the
time leading up to the wedding day as well as the time following it.

Changes in general health and alcohol use were similar for both men and
women. In particular, their general health increased during the months be‐
fore the wedding but then decreased in the months afterward. And in re‐
verse fashion, their alcohol use decreased before marriage but then in‐
creased afterward.

This finding suggests that people strive to engage in healthy behaviors as

the big day approaches, but that they soon revert to old habits. As the re‐
searchers note, the health benefits of getting married seem to be gained
mostly in the weeks before and after the wedding ceremony, but these ef‐
fects are short-lived.
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Compared with health trends, changes in psychological well-being were therapist near you–a FREE service
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more complex and depended on the sex of the individual. In terms of life
satisfaction, women saw an increase before the wedding day. Afterward, City or Zip
though, it dropped to a level below what it had been before they got en‐
gaged. This pattern suggests that many women approach marriage with un‐
realistic expectations and end up disappointed with the day-to-day realities
of marriage.

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Cities:

Atlanta, GA
Minneapolis, MN
Austin, TX
Nashville, TN
Baltimore, MD
New York, NY
Boston, MA
Oakland, CA
The men, however, seem to benefit psychologically from marriage. Their life Brooklyn, NY
Omaha, NE
satisfaction remains steady in the months leading up to the wedding, but it Charlotte, NC
Philadelphia, PA
gets a big boost afterward, at least during the first few months they’re mar‐ Chicago, IL
Phoenix, AZ
ried. This pattern suggests that marriage turns out to be more beneficial for Columbus, OH
Pittsburgh, PA
men than they’d expected it to be. In other words, the expectations before Dallas, TX
Portland, OR
and the experience after the wedding are the opposite for men and women. Denver, CO
Raleigh, NC
Detroit, MI
Sacramento, CA
Psychological distress also shows opposite patterns for women and men, Houston, TX
Saint Louis, MO
and it reflects the levels of life satisfaction each felt before and after getting Indianapolis, IN
San Antonio, TX
married. That is, the women reported a sharp decrease in psychological dis‐ Jacksonville, FL
San Diego, CA
tress before the wedding and a sharp increase afterward. In contrast, the Las Vegas, NV
San Francisco, CA
men saw a small increase before the big day with a return back to their pre- Los Angeles, CA
San Jose, CA
engagement state afterward.
Louisville, KY
Seattle, WA
Memphis, TN
Tucson, AZ
So, will getting married make you healthy and happy? According to the data Miami, FL
Washington, DC
collected by Huntington and colleagues, the answer is probably not. As the
Milwaukee, WI
researchers point out, both men and women get a boost in general health
during the engagement period. However, this is probably due to being on
their best behavior during this time, as evidenced by the drop in alcohol Are you a Therapist? Get Listed Today

consumption before marriage and a return to old habits afterward.

As for psychological well-being, the women get a boost before marriage

with a return to pre-engagement levels shortly afterward, while the men re‐
ported being happier during the months after the wedding than before. Still,
it’s unclear how long this boost in men’s life satisfaction after marriage lasts.

Happy Marriages are Built by Happy Partners

According to Huntington and colleagues, the data don’t support the con‐
tention that marriage causes health and happiness. Rather, they’re more
consistent with the notion that marriage selects for these. In other words,
people don’t get healthy and happy because they get married, but rather it’s
the other way around. That is, healthy, happy people are more likely to get
married than those who aren't, most likely because health and happiness
are attractive features in a mate.

Although the researchers didn’t explore this idea with the participants, the
data suggest that many people enter into marriage with unreasonable ex‐
pectations. If you think you’ll find happiness after marrying your soulmate,
you’re bound to be disappointed. Getting married is a big event in people’s
lives, one that is filled with both excitement and stress. But after the honey‐
moon is over, you’ll likely settle back into the same levels of physical and
psychological well-being that you had before you got married.

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In sum, it’s best to understand that healthy, happy marriages are built by
healthy, happy people. Get yourself into a state of physical and psychologi‐
cal well-being first, and you’ll be more likely to attract someone you can
build a strong and supportive marriage with.

Facebook image: Lucky Business/Shutterstock

References

Huntington, C., Stanley, S. M., Doss, B. D., & Rhoades, G. K. (2021). Happy, healthy,
and wedded? How the transition to marriage affects mental and physical health. Jour‐
nal of Family Psychology. Advance online publication.

About the David Ludden, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at

Georgia Gwinnett College.
Author
Online: Facebook

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