Rich Men With Extreme Politics Have the Happiest Marriages


American marriages aren’t what they used to be.

People are being pickier about who they marry and waiting longer to tie the knot. And with half of marriages ending in divorce, it’s gotten a lot easier to exit unpleasant unions. So, the state of the American marriage should be happier than ever, right?

Instead, the quality of American marriages has dropped significantly. While most Americans say they’re still “very happy” in their marriages, the number is down from the early 1970s, from 68 percent to 60 percent.



What’s souring American marriages? University of Maryland sociology professor Philip Cohen looked for clues by analyzing which Americans are happiest in their marriages. He used the most recent few rounds of the General Social Survey, a long-running study of Americans’ views and behaviors collected mostly through face-to-face interviews.

More men say they’re happier with their marriages than women do, for example. That’s consistent with other research suggesting that men tend to get more out of being married than women. Not surprisingly, religiosity—which usually emphasizes family and fidelity—also appears to play a role in marital happiness.



It’s more difficult to pinpoint why Americans with extreme political views are happier than moderates. “It’s possible that the people with more extreme political views are more likely to have a spouse who agrees with them,” Cohen said.

Of all the factors analyzed by Cohen, however, the one with the greatest effect on Americans’ marital happiness was economic status.

The General Social Survey asks participants whether they identify as members of the upper, middle, working, or lower class. In the wake of the Great Recession, which wiped out millions of middle-class jobs and trillions of dollars of wealth, the number of people who self-identify as “lower class” and “working class” has noticeably increased.

And it turns out there’s a 17-point gap between the happiness in lower- and upper-class marriages.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...iest-marriages