This is the unusual finding of an American survey, relayed by The Guardian this May 25. Unmarried women without children are said to be the happiest subgroup of the population. They would even be likely to to live longer than their married peers and mothers, according to Paul Dolan, a behavioral scientist at the London School of Economics (UK). “If you’re a man you should probably get married; if you’re a woman don’t bother”, he assured during a British festival.
These findings were drawn from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which compared levels of pleasure and suffering among unmarried, married, divorced, separated and widowed individuals. Analysis of this data revealed that the happiness levels reported by people with the ring finger were higher than those of loners … but only when their other half was in the room! Finally, singles reported more joy than married couples surveyed when their spouse was not present.
Ring on the finger for men, celibacy for women,
According to Paul Dolan, the male sex benefits more from marriage because the union “calm them”. “He takes fewer risks, earns more money at work and lives a little longer. She, on the other hand, has to put up with this and dies sooner than if she had never married.”, he developed. Thereby, “the healthiest and happiest subgroups of the population are women who have never married or had children”. This is because middle-aged wives are more likely to suffer from physical and mental problems than their single counterparts.
But despite the benefits of the solo lifestyle, the stigma of it can make some free women feel miserable. The discourse according to which marriage and children are signs of success leads life hard, believes the specialist. A 40-year-old unmarried woman without children can be confronted with speeches that she would have done well without. “‘Poor poor thing, isn’t it? Maybe one day you’ll meet the right guy and that will change.’ No, maybe she will meet the wrong guy and that will change. Maybe she will meet a man who makes her less happy and healthy and will die sooner. “, he got carried away.
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- Some people prefer themselves to be single, according to science
