How can marriage affect my happiness?

Studies on marriage and happiness are somewhat conflicting, and the causal relationship between the two is unclear. On average, people who are married tend to report higher levels of happiness than people who are not married. Unmarried people in committed relationships also tend to be happier than people in casual relationships.

But it's not clear if this is because people who are predisposed to being happy are more likely to marry, or because marriage itself makes people happier, or if there is still some other yet-to-be-discovered dynamic at play between marriage and happiness. Although observational studies clearly show an association between well-being and relationships, there is no evidence to prove that one causes the other.

One theory for the correlation between happiness and marriage is that, compared with married people, people who aren't married tend to experience lower levels of social approval as well as fewer financial and social benefits. These factors may play a role in the lower levels of personal well-being reported by people who are not married.

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