Happiness

Does Marriage Really Make People Happier?

brideandgroomA new study, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family reveals that married couples experience few advantages for psychological well-being, health, or social ties compared to unmarried couples who live together. While both marriage and cohabitation provide benefits over being single, these reduce over time following a honeymoon period.

“Marriage has long been an important social institution, but in recent decades western societies have experienced increases in cohabitation, before or instead of marriage, and increases in children born outside of marriage,” said Dr Kelly Musick, Associate Professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology. “These changes have blurred the boundaries of marriage, leading to questions about what difference marriage makes in comparison to alternatives.”

Previous research has sought to prove a link between marriage and well-being, but many studies compared marriage to being single, or compared marriages and cohabitations at a single point in time. This study compares marriage to cohabitation while using a fixed-effects approach that focuses on what changes when single men and women move into marriage or cohabitation and the extent to which any effects of marriage and cohabitation persist over time. [continue reading…]

hand-grabbing-moneyBritain's PM David Cameron has spent 2 million pounds in a project to measure wellbeing and happiness in the UK.

Today Isabel Oakeshott writes in the Sunday Times

"The report which is due to be released to coincide with "Blue-Monday" tomorrow, has concluded that David Cameron’s strategy of measuring and explicitly promoting happiness over other objectives is a waste of time.
 
Drawing from an array of data from 126 countries, the 250-page report by the free-market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) finds that the most important indicator of happiness is wealth, and says the government should forget general wellbeing and concentrate on boosting Britain’s flatlining GDP".

Hum,interestingly enough researchers from the University of Warwick, highlighted how relatively ineffective extra income is at raising well-being. The researchers further drew on two striking pieces of independent evidence to illustrate their point – over the last 50 years developed countries have not seen any increases to national happiness in spite of huge economic gains. Mental health on the other hand appears to be deteriorating worldwide. The researchers argue that resources should be directed towards the things that have the best chance of improving the health and happiness of our nations – investment in mental health care by increasing the access and availability of psychological therapy could be a more effective way of improving national well-being than the pursuit of income growth.

We'd love to hear your thoughts, can money buy happiness?

Source: Sunday Times

Can Meditation Bring Happiness?

The BBC’s David Sillito has been finding out if there is a scientific basis for meditation leading to greater levels of happiness.

Source: BBC