Study: Staying married can help smooth out that midlife crisis

Marriage, especially marriage between best friends, makes people happier in the long run, according to a new paper published in the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The paper, which looked at data from the Gallup World Poll and two studies in the United Kingdom, identified a key ingredient for marital bliss—friendship—and debunked a few standing theories about why married people are happier, healthier, more financially secure, and weather stressful seasons with more life satisfaction.

Past studies suggested results linking marriage to increased happiness were correlation, not causation: Married people are happier because happier people are more likely to get married. But this report looked at individuals over many years and controlled the results for pre-marital happiness in each person, as well as age, gender, income, and health. The results showed married people are still consistently happier than unmarried people.

Other studies theorized marital bliss is highest right after marriage and wanes as the years go by. But when the researchers looked at the data for this report, they found the difference in well-being between married and unmarried people is greatest when people are in their 40s and 50s, not in their 20s and 30s, when the highest percentage of people get married.

The paper’s authors noted married and unmarried people alike generally experience a dip in happiness during midlife, when career and family pressures mount. Most people reported lifetime happiness in a U-shaped curve. But the authors found the dip is deeper for unmarried people and shallower for those who are married, suggesting marriage helps, especially when times are tough.

“People who are married can handle midlife stress better than those who aren’t because they have a shared load and shared friendship,” paper author and economist John Helliwell told The New York Times.

The report suggests a major factor affecting well-being through stressful times, as well as overall life satisfaction, is friendship. About half of those studied called their spouse or partner their best friend. Of those married, having a best friend as a spouse doubled the benefits of marriage, compared to married people who said their best friend was someone other than their spouse.

Despite numerous studies showing the benefits of marriage, Americans are tying the knot at a lower rate than ever before. In 2012, 1-in-5 adults aged 25 and older had never married, up from 1-in-10 adults in 1960, according to Pew Research. About half, 53 percent, of those unmarried adults said they would like to marry eventually, down from 61 percent in 2010.