The Marriage Advantage: Is It Real Protection or Just Good Selection?
New research finds that married people are genuinely happier, but it's not just the marriage it's also who chooses to stay married.
What This Study Is About
This study uses longitudinal data (1,240 respondents from the GSS panel, 2010–2014) to investigate whether the 'marriage advantage' in well-being is a true protective effect or due to self-selection based on pre-existing mental health.
💡 Mindeln Tip
Work on your own well-being first. Healthy individuals create healthy relationships, which then boost well-being even more.
Key Insights
Self-Selection is Supported: Individuals who later exit marriage are already more distressed than other married people when the study begins.
Protective Effect is Supported: Even after statistically removing the influence of self-selection, married people are less distressed than unmarried people at any given time.
The currently unmarried who will enter marriage later are not found to be less distressed than the continuously married.
The findings confirm that the benefit of marriage is a combination of who you are (self-selection) and what the institution provides (protective effect).
The Full Story
The 'marriage advantage' is real, supported by a genuine protective effect that reduces psychological distress. However, self-selection also plays a role, as individuals who are already less distressed are more likely to enter and remain in marriage.
Original Research Source
View the original research paper to dive deeper into the methodology, data, and findings.
View Original Paper