MARITAL-STATUS, DISTRESS, AND WELL-BEING - AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

A relationship between marital status on the one hand and various indi cators of well-being and mental health on the other has been found in a large number of studies. Typically, that the currently married have been shown to enjoy the most favorable position, the divorced and wido wed are generally worst off, and the never married in an intermediate position. This paper provides an analysis of the consistency and gener ality of this relationship: To what extent are there national differen ce? Is the relationship stronger for men than women, as has been sugge sted by several authors? And is there evidence for such a relationship whatever measure of psychological well-being we use? Comparable inter view data from 19 countries, including a few non-western ones, are use d. The data are analyzed by ordinary linear regression methods, repres enting marital status by means of dummy variables and controlling for age and parenthood. At least some evidence of differences in psycholog ical well-being between the currently married on the one hand and the previously married and the never married on the other are found in pra ctically all countries. On average the relationship between marital st atus and well-being is quite similar for men and women. More striking differences are found between well-being measures. The relationship wi th marital status is weakest for positive affect and strongest for sel f-reported happiness, with the results for negative affect and overall life satisfaction falling in between.