subjective well being, marriage, adaptation, happiness, setpoint theory,

Andrew E. Clark

B.M. DePaulo

D. Lykken

D.A. Freedman

D.R. Johnson

E. Diener

J.P. Haisken-De New

L.J. Waite

M. Haring-Hidore

P. Brickman

R.A. Easterlin

R.E. Lucas

R.R. Rindfuss

Richard E. Lucas

S. Hope

S. Raudenbush

V. Jocklin

W. Johnson

Although cross-sectional studies have shown a reliable association between marital status and subjective well-being, a recent longitudinal study [Lucas et al. 2003, Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 84(3), pp.␣527-539] found no support for the idea that happiness increases after marriage. Instead, participants who got married reported short-term increases followed by complete adaptation back to baseline levels of well-being. However, researchers have criticized this study on two grounds. First, these results contradict cohort-based analyses from a nationally representative sample. Second, these analyses do not control for pre-marriage cohabitation, which could potentially inflate baseline levels of well-being. The original data (plus four additional waves) are reanalyzed to address these concerns. Results confirm that individuals do not get a lasting boost in life satisfaction following marriage

Lucas, Richard E.

Clark, Andrew E.

Archive Ouverte a LUniversite Lyon 2

Do people really adapt to marriage?

Crossref

DO PEOPLE REALLY ADAPT TO MARRIAGE?

HAL-Ecole des Ponts ParisTech

Kingston University Research Repository

Name not available

Richard Lucas

Andrew Clark

Research Papers in Economics

Although cross-sectional studies have shown a reliable association between marital status and subjective well-being, a recent longitudinal study (Lucas, Clark, Georgellis, & Diener, 2003) found no support for the idea that happiness increases after marriage. Instead, participants who got married reported short-term increases followed by complete adaptation back to baseline levels of well-being. However, researchers have criticized this study on two grounds. First, these results contradict cohort-based analyses from a nationally representative sample. Second, these analyses do not control for pre-marriage cohabitation, which could potentially inflate baseline levels of well-being. The original data (plus four additional waves) are reanalyzed to address these concerns. Results confirm that individuals do not get a lasting boost in life satisfaction following marriage.Bien que de nombreuses analyses basées sur des données en coupe aient révélé une relation positive entre mariage et bien-être subjectif, un article récent sur données de panel (Lucas, Clark, Georgellis et Diener, 2003) ne nous a pas permis de vérifier que le bonheur augmentait du fait du mariage. Ceux qui se marient jouissent d'une augmentation de bien-être de courte durée, suivie d'une adaptation complète, c'est-à-dire un retour au niveau initial de bien-être. Cette conclusion a été critiquée pour deux raisons. En premier lieu, ces résultats ne s'accordent pas avec ceux issus d'une analyse de cohorte. Ensuite, l'analyse ne prend pas en compte la cohabitation avant le mariage, qui peut éventuellement biaiser le niveau initial de bien-être. Nous analysons à nouveau les données originales de Lucas et al. (avec quatre vagues de données supplémentaires) afin de répondre à ces critiques. Nos résultats confirment que les individus n'éprouvent pas de hausse permanente de satisfaction dans la vie du fait du mariage

HAL: Hyper Article en Ligne

https://hal-pjse.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00754117

Do people really adapt to marriage?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Archive Ouverte a LUniversite Lyon 2

Crossref

HAL-Ecole des Ponts ParisTech

Kingston University Research Repository

Name not available

Research Papers in Economics

Name not available

HAL: Hyper Article en Ligne