The Well-Being Gap Between the Married and the Never Married: Time Trends and Macro Processes

This investigation examined if the life satisfaction advantage of married persons over the non married decreased over the last three decades, and if the trend was explained by changes of economic specialization within marriage. The author used nationally representative data fromWord Values Survey – European Values Study integrated data set for 87 countries (n = 138,573 men and n = 153,952 women), covering a period of 29 years. Overall, the life satisfaction gap related to marriage decreased over time. However, the results did not support the hypothesis that economic specialization shaped the observed trend. This evidence questions one of assumptions of the economic model of household and suggests that the gains to marriage are higher in conditions of freedom of choice rather than in conditions of economic necessity