That family models have been transformed in Western societies and are becoming more diverse is a fact. The time to have children or the decision to get married (or not to get married) also seem to have been postponed. For example, the United States Census Bureau has just published that almost as many single adults as married adults now live in the country. And is marriage currently a source of life satisfaction for individuals? This is the question that researchers at the Pew Research Center have asked themselves.
This year, the study conducted a survey among 5,073 American adults, in which they were asked what factors are important to live a full life. Participants had to rate how satisfied they were with being married, having children, having close friends, having a job or career they enjoyed, and having a lot of money. The preliminary results showed a striking conclusion: the majority of people valued friendship over marriage to be happy.
61% of those surveyed indicated having close friends as an important aspect of having a full life, compared to only 23% who responded in favor of marriage. Not far away, this statistic recorded 26% of people who thought that having children was very important to feel fulfilled, a higher percentage than those who indicated that having a lot of money was essential to be happy (24%). An issue also below the best rated, by 71%, which is the fact of having a job or career that you like.
Regarding the results among people of all marital statuses, married people, although they have a satisfactory view of marriage above the average (29%), continue to value other issues such as having children or a job above this. work that pleases them. Likewise, it is striking that divorced people (18%) and even lifelong singles (15%) have a better opinion of marriage than people who live with a romantic partner (12%).
One of the conclusions of this study is that it is not so much that people despise marriage, but rather that they especially value all the advantages that being single offers them. Demographic, social and cultural changes have distanced more traditional issues such as getting married or having children from the main life goals of individuals, which are much more heterogeneous.
This panorama places job satisfaction, friendship or being single as alternative sources of happiness, the latter, due to the freedom, autonomy, intimacy or emotional well-being that it offers them, which means that they renounce love sine die.
