Data from a new longitudinal psych study on divorce and life happiness in America have been released, with interesting results in particular for women.
Those women in the poorest quality relationships are happier after divorcing, which is considered interesting because previous studies have shown that those in bad relationships would rather stay in it than be alone. Women who are in good marriages predictably reported higher levels of life satisfaction when they remained married, while those in average marriages were also unhappier when they divorced.
Gender played a role, in that whether men got married or divorced had little or no effect on their life satisfaction. Researchers put gender differences down to the way women are often ‘more invested in their relationships and more affected by their quality’.
The key finding of the study appears to be that for women, while divorce is painful, it can absolutely be worth it in terms of removing a range of negative stressors from the lives of those in the poorest quality relationships.
Read more: http://fusion.net/story/126905/divorce-study-marital-happiness/
