Wedded Bliss

If your partner is happy, it makes you happier, too - but only if you’re married. Alice Wignall talks to a man researching some key questions about life

Traditionalists will be popping the champagne corks - or at least sitting down for a nice cup of tea and a fondant fancy - at news from the University of Warwick. Researcher Nick Powdthavee has uncovered evidence that people are more satisfied with their lives if their partner is happy, but that this effect applies only to married couples, not those who opt for cohabitation over nuptial bliss.

“I had started working on the economics of happiness, which is a fairly new field,” he says. “I’ve always had a curiosity about whether happiness is shared between people. We believe it to be true, instinctively, but there has been no chance to test it.”

For his research, Powdthavee looked at results from the British household panel survey. “It’s a survey that’s been done for the last 12 years,” he explains. “It questions the same people every year and it has all sorts of questions about work, marriage, health, and one on happiness, where you can rate your satisfaction with life. Because it’s confidential, we can track how people, married or cohabiting, are affected by events in their partner’s life.”

Full article (Guardian Online)