Repeated surveys have found that married couples are more satisfied with their lives than individuals who are single, divorced, separated, or cohabiting but unwed.29

“a person is said to have high [well-being or happiness] if she or he experiences life satisfaction and frequent joy, and only infrequently experiences unpleasant emotions such as

One investigator has found that couples that deliberately choose to be childless are just as happy as couples that make the opposite choice.36

is that average levels of happiness in the United States have risen very little if at all over the past 50 years despite substantial growth in per capita incomes.13

Rather, apart from such basic conditions as how well people feel, how much freedom they enjoy, and whether they possess the necessities and comforts of life, the most important sources of happiness seem to include having close relationships with family and friends, helping others, and being active in community, charitable, and political activities.

Several familiar lifestyle choices also have surprisingly little effect on well-being. Moving to warmer climates does not help. Likewise, hours spent watching television or going to the movies do not make much positive difference and yield less satisfaction than exercising, gardening, or playing sports.28 Other experiences, such as a good meal at a

Whatever marriage brings, longitudinal studies suggest that its termination—whether from divorce, separation, or the death of a spouse—leads to a sharp loss of happiness for many people.33

In one recent experiment, for example, two groups of subjects were given a sum of money and instructed to spend it all in the next 24 hours.58 One randomly selected group was asked to spend the money on themselves; the second was told to spend it on others in need. When the subjects were tested a day or two later, those who gave to others were

Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert cites several other studies showing that the happiness of couples declines after the birth of children and does not rise again until their offspring leave home.38