Unmarried women without kids are happier?
It's Georgia here, and as a single, unmarried, childless 31 year old, this research caught my attention.
When we're young, society has programmed us that we need to get married, have kids and that will give us great fulfillment and achievement. We have all felt the pressure! Whether you're a man or a woman. Now, don't get me wrong, marriage and children are great to have in life. But do we need it? Studies are showing that the U.S. birthrate is at it's lowest rate it's ever been, and that marriage rate is going the same way. Click here for more on that study. Maybe some women are onto something here that science is starting to understand. That maybe we don't need a husband or kids.
Paul Dolan who's a behavioral scientist, did some research on how women happy women are when they go down the traditional path with having marriage and kids. He says "Married people are happier than other population subgroups, but only when their spouse is in the room, when they're asked how happy they are when the spouse is not present: f****** miserable."
Yikes. Keep in mind, this isn't just coming from Dolan. Dolan says there's scientific proof behind his claim. He says "We do have some good longitudinal data following the same people over time, but I am going to do a massive disservice to that science and just say: if you're a man, you should probably get married; if you're a woman, don't bother." Wow.
Dolan also says that "men calm down after marrying, which benefits their overall happiness along with that increase in pay that comes from being married." Also, married men have a longer lifespan married men enjoy.
The latest book "Happy Ever After" by scientists uses research and data from the American Time Use Survey which compared levels of happiness, and misery levels. This survey looked at married, divorced, separated and widowed people. The results were that married couples only reported higher levels of happiness if their spouse was physically present. Unmarried people were lower levels of unhappiness than their married friends when their spouse wasn't in the room. Interesting.
Adding to this, Dolan says that marriage helps most men and hurts some women. He found that while married men enjoy better health, married women see no change in theirs.He says that middle age women who are at higher risk of physical and mental health problems than single women.
Dolan mentions that although it's proving that being an unmarried woman without kids is the happiest route to take, the stigma linked with some of the choices single women can mean single women are unhappy anyway... Which is because society is telling them that they should be. The research ties it all up saying "You see a single woman of 40, who has never had children. Bless that's a shame isn't it? Maybe one day you'll meet the right guy and that'll change. No, maybe, she'll meet the wrong guy and that'll change. Maybe she'll meet a guy who makes her less happy and healthy, and die sooner.
I'll remember the words of this Dolan when I'm ordering uber eats alone!-@georgiasmith