Lucas, R. E., Clark, A. E., Georgellis, Y., &Diener, E. (2003). Reexamining adaptation and the set point model of happiness: Reactions to changes in marital status.

According to adaptation theory, individuals react to events but quickly adapt back to baseline levels of subjective well-being. To test this idea, the authors used data from a 15-year longitudinal study of over 24,000 individuals to examine the effects of marital transitions on life satisfaction. On average, individuals reacted to events and then adapted back toward baseline levels. However, there were substantial individual differences in this tendency. Individuals who initially reacted strongly were still far from baseline years later, and many people exhibited trajectories that were in the opposite direction to that predicted by adaptation theory. Thus, marital transitions can be associated with long-lasting changes in satisfaction, but these changes can be overlooked when only average trends are examined.

 

 

 

Lucas, R. E., Clark, A. E., Georgellis, Y., &Diener, E. (2003). Reexamining adaptation and the set point model of happiness: Reactions to changes in marital status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(3), 527-539.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.3.527

 

 

Gardner, J., &Oswald, A. J. (2006). Do divorcing couples become happier by breaking up?. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 169(2), 319-336.

Summary. Divorce is a leap in the dark. The paper investigates whether people who split up actually become happier. Using the British Household Panel Survey, we can observe an individual’s level of psychological well‐being in the years before and after divorce. Our results show that divorcing couples reap psychological gains from the dissolution of their marriages. Men and women benefit equally. The paper also studies the effects of bereavement, of having dependant children and of remarriage. We measure well‐being by using general health questionnaire and life satisfaction scores.

 

 

Gardner, J., &Oswald, A. J. (2006). Do divorcing couples become happier by breaking up?. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 169(2), 319-336.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2006.00403.x 

 

 

Frey, B. S., Benesch, C., &Stutzer, A. (2007). Does watching TV make us happy?. Journal of Economic psychology, 28(3), 283-313.

Watching TV is a major human activity. Because of its immediate benefits at negligible immediate marginal costs it is for many people tempting to view TV rather than to pursue more engaging activities. As a consequence, individuals with incomplete control over, and foresight into, their own behavior watch more TV than they consider optimal for themselves and their well-being is lower than what could be achieved. We find that heavy TV viewers, and in particular those with significant opportunity cost of time, report lower life satisfaction. Long TV hours are also linked to higher material aspirations and anxiety.

 

 

Frey, B. S., Benesch, C., &Stutzer, A. (2007). Does watching TV make us happy?. Journal of Economic psychology, 28(3), 283-313.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2007.02.001

 

 

Benesch, C., Frey, B. S., &Stutzer, A. (2010). TV channels, self-control and happiness. The BE Journal of Economic Analysis &Policy, 10(1).

Standard economic theory suggests that more choice is usually better. We address this claim and investigate whether people can cope with the increasing number of television programs and watch the amount of TV they find optimal for themselves or whether they are prone to over-consumption. We find that heavy TV viewers do not benefit but instead report lower life satisfaction with access to more TV channels. This finding suggests that an identifiable group of individuals experiences a self-control problem when it comes to TV viewing.

 

 

Benesch, C., Frey, B. S., &Stutzer, A. (2010). TV channels, self-control and happiness. The BE Journal of Economic Analysis &Policy, 10(1).

https://doi.org/10.2202/1935-1682.2119

 

 

Gardner, J., &Oswald, A. (2004). How is mortality affected by money, marriage, and stress?. Journal of health economics, 23(6), 1181-1207.

It is believed that the length of a person’s life depends on a mixture of economic and social factors. Yet the relative importance of these is still debated. We provide recent British evidence that marriage has a strong positive effect on longevity. Economics matters less. After controlling for health at the start of the 1990s, we cannot find reliable evidence that income affects the probability of death in the subsequent decade. Although marriage keeps people alive, it does not appear to work through a reduction of stress levels. Greater levels of psychological distress (as measured by General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) stress scores) cannot explain why unmarried people die younger. For women, however, we do find that mental strain itself is dangerous. High GHQ stress scores help to predict the probability of an early death.

 

 

Gardner, J., &Oswald, A. (2004). How is mortality affected by money, marriage, and stress?. Journal of health economics, 23(6), 1181-1207.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2004.03.002

 

Stack, S., &Eshleman, J. R. (1998). Marital status and happiness: A 17-nation study. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 527-536.

The literature on marital status and happiness has neglected comparative analysis, cohabitation, and gender-specific analysis. It is not clear if the married-happiness relationship is consistent across nations, if it is stronger than a cohabitation-happiness link, and if it applies to both genders. We address these issues using data from 17 national surveys. A multiple regression analysis determined that the relationship between marital status and happiness holds in 16 of the 17 nations and the strength of the association does not vary significantly in 14 of the 17 nations. Being married was 3.4 times more closely tied to the variance in happiness than was cohabitation, and marriage increases happiness equally among men and women. Marriage may affect happiness through two intervening processes: the promotion of financial satisfaction and the improvement of health. These intervening processes did not replicate for cohabitants.

 

 

Stack, S., &Eshleman, J. R. (1998). Marital status and happiness: A 17-nation study. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 527-536.

DOI: 10.2307/353867  

 

 

Coombs, R. H. (1991). Marital status and personal well-being: A literature review. Family relations, 97-102.

Do unmarried individuals experience more emotional and health problems than their married counterparts? According to more than 130 empirical studies on a number of well-being indices, married men and women are generally happier and less stressed than the unmarried. Marriage is particularly rewarding for men. This review finds little support for the selection hypothesis which asserts that the relationship between marital status and well-being is spurious since emotional maturity explains both conditions. However, the evidence is consistent with the protection/support hypothesis that a marital partner who provides companionship and psychic aid buffers individuals against physical and emotional pathology.

 

 

Coombs, R. H. (1991). Marital status and personal well-being: A literature review. Family relations, 97-102.

https://doi.org/10.2307/585665

 

 

Mastekaasa, A. (1992). Marriage and psychological well-being: Some evidence on selection into marriage. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 901-911.

Higher psychological well-being among married as opposed to unmarried persons may be due to social selection into marriage, or to marriage effects (social causation). From the selection hypothesis it follows that well-being at one time point be positively related to the subsequent probability of marrying. Using transition rate methods (Cox regression) on a sample of 9,000 unmarried persons, strong and significant relationships are found. The predictive power of the well-being measures remains stable throughout the 2- to 4-year period of observation. It is concluded that selection may play an important part in producing the oft-observed association between marital status and well-being.

 

 

 

Mastekaasa, A. (1992). Marriage and psychological well-being: Some evidence on selection into marriage. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 901-911.

DOI: 10.2307/353171

 

 

Benz, M., &Frey, B. S. (2008). The value of doing what you like: Evidence from the self-employed in 23 countries. Journal of Economic Behavior &Organization, 68(3-4), 445-455.

The self-employed are substantially more satisfied with their work than employed persons. We document this relationship for 23 countries and show that the higher job satisfaction can mainly be attributed to the more interesting jobs and to the greater autonomy that self-employed persons enjoy. ‘Doing what you like to do’ seems to provide non-pecuniary benefits from work suggesting the existence of procedural utility: interesting work and autonomy are valued beyond material outcomes as good procedural work characteristics. The results hold for western European, North American and eastern European countries, but largely also for countries with a non-western cultural background.

 

 

Benz, M., &Frey, B. S. (2008). The value of doing what you like: Evidence from the self-employed in 23 countries. Journal of Economic Behavior &Organization, 68(3-4), 445-455.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2006.10.014