Reply to American Women Are Giving Up on Marriage (Wall Street Journal)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It’s interesting because my understanding is that the [b]sociological data shows that married parents have high levels of happiness. [/b]Having a stable family is an overall benefit to the individuals involved and society.

Certain demographic groups are more successful in forming and maintaining families including the college educated professional class, Asian Americans, and more religious people.

We talk about this issue with our teen. Alongside college and career prep, we want him to know the importance of family and the value of intentionally prioritizing a good marriage. It doesn’t just magically happen. Effort is both required and rewarded.[/quote]

Nope - [b]single women are happiest[/b], followed by married men. I forget whether single men or married women are least happy.

We talk with our teen DD about choosing a partner who shares your values and will pull their weight. [/quote]
You're incorrect. Data show married people are happier--both men and women. 
From Stack, Steven, and J. Ross Eshleman. "Marital status and happiness: A 17-nation study." Journal of Marriage and the Family (1998): 527-536:
"Research on marital status and happiness has
 tended to be restricted to the U.S. We extend the
 analysis to a set of 17 industrialized nations with
 diverse social and institutional frameworks. Con-
 trolling for sociodemographic variables, we found
 that married persons have a significantly higher
 level of happiness than persons who are not mar-
 ried."[/quote]

[b]1998?? It's a different world now.[/b] [/quote]

Here's more recent data from 2022 General Social Survey: https://ifstudies.org/blog/who-is-happiest-married-mothers-and-fathers-per-the-latest-general-social-survey
"The GSS shows that a combination of marriage and parenthood is linked to the biggest happiness dividends for women. Among married women with children between the ages of 18 and 55, 40% reported they are “very happy,” compared to 25% of married childless women, and just 22% of unmarried childless women.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that unmarried mothers are the least likely to be very happy: with just 17% of them indicating they are very happy. "[/quote]

Can we please be serious. This is not an actual research, this is propaganda. I’m going to read research studies by actual scientists, not mouth breathing morons who are homeschooled and molested by their family members. [/quote]

The source is the well-respected General Social Survey. The Institute for Family Studies is "pro-family" but that doesn't mean they're lying. Anyway here is another study published in the Journal of Mental Health and Clinincal Psychology. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7304555/

Their conclusion "Overall, high education, being employed, and being married were associated with better Self Reported Health and happiness." This applies for men and women. They also included interactions and the odds ratio for women who were married was 1.14. In laymen's terms " the effect of marital status [on happiness] is larger for women." Parentheses mine.

It is pretty well established in the happiness literature that married people are happier. There is little to no debate about this among people who study this topic.

There is some debate as to whether happier people are more likely to marry/stay married as opposed to marriage causing the happiness. The evidence suggests both are in play.[/quote]

Sorry, but no one is buying this, hence the declining rates of marriage. You’re going to have to try harder.

Tons of studies by actual scientists with brain show that the happiest cohort are single women without kids.[/quote]

DP. The only study anyone has mentioned here that claims that was from Paul Dolan who dramatically misinterpreted the Time Use Survey data he was using. To his credit, he has retracted the erroneous claims, but it's hard to call him an "actual scientist with a brain" when he made so much hay out of data he didn't understand on a basic level. He also got a ton of press at first, but not so much when he had retract his claims which is, unfortunately, how it tends to go.

He stands by his overall claims about happiness, but they're really not supported by the data. You can also look at ATUS data which shows higher reported happiness among both men and women who are married versus single. The numbers are actually pretty similar, but they're definitely not highest among single women without kids; they're highest among married women with kids (mean 4.2 on a scale of 1-6) and lowest among single men without kids (4.1) (that data is here: https://x.com/graykimbrough/status/1134845684526583813 yes, it's twitter, but it's from an academic and he screenshots his sources). Men GAIN more happiness by being married than women (in that data), but all groups, on average, gain happiness from marriage and having kids.

I don't have a strong opinion either way on whether marriage makes people happier overall (mine own has made me immeasurably happier, but that's just one data point), but your statement about "tons of studies" showing that the happiest women are single women without kids is just wrong.[/quote]

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