Everyone is aware of the benefits of marriage, isn’t it? The truth, revealed by psychological research – the level of subjective well-being depends to a lesser extent on the satisfaction of the couple’s relationship.
A completely counterintuitive discovery! Most of us already know that in order to be happy, we need positive relationships. In the same way, every day, we see how the Sun revolves around the Earth and the Earth, you can check right now, is standing still. That’s about counterintuitive and that’s why scientific research is good. The truth is often unbearable!
The researchers interviewed 25,000 citizens, each year, for 15 years. During this time, some of them, as expected, got married. As the level of satisfaction was measured periodically, the data allowed the evaluation of the impact of marriage on personal happiness.
For almost 2 years, the happiness felt individually as a result of the couple’s relationship really increases! The intuition was correct: the couple’s partnership is necessary to enjoy life.
But what does the research say next?
After two years, the couple’s partners return to their usual level of happiness!
Lucas, Clark, Georgellis, Diener (2003), Reexamining adaptation and the set point model of happiness in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
We don’t have to understand from here that we don’t need a partner, that we have to break up with our partner. We just need to know the reality, to know what awaits us.
Life could be more interesting together!