People who are single and without children are the happiest, according to happiness researcher Paul Dolan, a professor of behavioral science at the London School of Economics.
Dolan explains that although marriage helps men, the same cannot be said for women in general.
Men profit from tying the knot, according to Dolan, because it “calms them down.” They are less likely to take chances, raise more money, and live longer as a result of this. However, married women do not reap the same outcomes. In reality, according to Dolan, married men are healthier because they take fewer risks, but marriage seems to have little effect on women’s health—except for the fact that middle-aged married women have a higher risk of both mental and physical problems than their single equivalents. Dolan concludes that “people who have never married or had children are the healthiest and happiest population subgroup.”
Dolan makes a fascinating point about the western understanding of success—as compared to the sense of happiness—which is relevant to the questions we ask our single female friends who have chosen to travel solo. Though culture places a premium on those types of successes and milestones, Dolan points out that “long-established, conventional symbols of success did not actually correspond with happiness levels.”
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