Are married people happier than unmarried people?

Love and other close, intimate relationships make up a major part of life. Most people inNorth America today, and probably most people in most other modern cultures, believethat to miss out on love andintimacy would be to live a poorer, emptier life, comparedto people who experience those things. Having social bondsis linked to better mental and physical health on all sorts of measures. Many of thoseadvantages have been specifically linked to marriage: People who marry live longer andhealthier lives than people who never marry, and people who stay married live longer andbetter than those who divorce.
Unhappy marriages produce considerable stress and otherbad effects that can nullify the advantages of marriage and in some cases leave peopleworse off married than alone. Thus, not just marriage but happy marriage maybe the most important thing. There may also be a gender difference, though more dataare needed. To men, the big difference is being married versus not married, but forwomen, the quality of the relationship (happy versus unhappy)seems more powerful.
It is possible that people who are healthier andsaner to start with are more likely to marry, so their better health might not be a result ofthe marriage. Research has shown that some inborn, genetic factors steer people towardmarriage, whereas other genetic factors guide other people toward remaining single.That is, married people are genetically different from lifelong single people, on average,and some of those differences could contribute to the differences in health and longevity.For example, a person born with a genetic problem that caused many health problemsover the years might find it harder than a healthy person to marry (because people preferto marry healthy, attractive partners)and also might be more likely to die at a young age(because of the health problems).
Still, some of the differences in outcomes are probably caused by the benefits of marriage.For example, Catholic priests do not live as long or as healthy lives as do Protestantministers. It does not seem likely that genetic traits steer men into Catholic versusProtestant faith-so the difference in how long they live is more likely due to the fact thatonly the Protestant clergy marry.