Research topic-
Has there been any change in the success and happiness of marriage over time?
HypothesisIn recent years, marriages have become less successful. We can also say that the
happiness of marriage has been decreasing for the past few years.
Every marriage is unique in its own way. There are both positive and negative
sides of marriage. We can see that the average percentage of the couple that is really
happy in the present is less compared to the past few years. The reason for that can be
financial problems, family conflicts or any other reason. We can see a variety of the
reason s in each couple to live happy or not to stay happy. May be this can depend on the
situation of the marriage or the kind of marriage such as an arranged marriage or love
marriage.
One couple, named Mr. and Mrs. Royster celebrated 71 year of marriage in
Raleigh , North Carolina . They met each other 71 years ago and the got married. Their
seven decades of a happy marriage spent together passed by really smoothly. Now they
are grand parents of 16, great-grand parents of 24 and great –grand parents of two. This
information shows us that this couple lived life very happily after marriage. Here, in this
case we can say their marriage has at least lasted foe more than 71 years.
Richard Lucas, assistant professor of psychology conducted his research about the
happiness of marriage. Although married individual’s generally reported a higher level of
happiness, this satisfaction with life was not as high as expected. He did his research on a
scale of 1 to 10. He found that, most of them have an opinion that “married people are
happier than these other groups, but they were happy when they were single.” He said
that “it is not everybody who gets married has big positive change that happiness of
marriage.” This research shows something opposite then the first one. The research is
conducted on young people.
The other article was about the science of a good marriage. In this article, the
author says that “psychology is unlocking the secrets of happy couple.” According to this
article sometimes the happiness of marriage depends on the psychology of the husband
and wife. If their thoughts and their views are matched, there are more chances to live
happy in their marriage life. If there are different views and different thoughts, there are
more chances of conflict. Obviously, if there are conflicts in the family, there are less
chances of happiness.
The researchers said that, “we found that people were no more satisfied after
marriage than they were prior to marriage.” The study was published in the March issue
of the general of personality and social psychology, by a publication of American
psychological associations. This research was completed in 15 years. They said that
“there is no magic trick of happiness in marriage.”
The GSS data shows us that the happiness of marriage is quite different in all the
years from 1973 to 2004. But the only thing is that the number of happiness is going
down as the number of years going up.
Here are some results of the GSS data that shows us the happiness of the married
couple in past few years.
Most of the couples are very happy in their married life. The average percentages
that find out by the research between the years 1973 to 2004 are 63.7. But the noticeable
thing is that the percentage of the people that were very happy in their married life in
1973 was 67.8, while the percentage of people who are very happy in 2004 is 61.7. Here,
we can see that, the difference in the happiness of marriage between people in 1973 and
2004.
The average people that are happy in there married life are less compared to the
people who are very happy. The average percentages that are carried out by the research
from the year 1973 to 2004 are 33.3. The percentage of the happy people in 1973 was
29.6 and in 2004 were 33.3. Here it is noticeable that the percentage of the happy people
is high in 2004 compared the 1973.
The number of people who are not too happy in their marriage life is very less
compared to the people who are very happy and happy in their in their married life. The
average percentage of the not too happy people in their married life is 2.68. The
percentages remain almost the same during the years of 1973 to 2004. There is slight
difference in it. The percentage of not too happy people in their married life in 1973 was
2.6 and in the year of 2004 are 3.
So, by using the GSS data, we can say that as the percentage pf the very happy
people goes down, the percentage of the happy people and not too happy goes up
compared to the past few years.
I think, today the main reason that the percentage of the happiness is going down
can be financial issues. In the case, there can be two types of problem. One of them can
be more income and the other can be because of less income. If there is more money in
both sides, they can think that happiness can be buying by the money. That can be result
for conflict. If there is less money, the conflict can occur because of less money. In the
past, money was not so important as today. But, I think today, money is priority in each
family. The other reason according to me can be religion. If the husband and wife have
different religion in cause a conflict amongst them and their families. Before, most of the
people got married in the same religion. So, there were fewer chances of the crisis of
marriage because of religion. The other reason can be family conflict. In this case the
husband and wife can stay together happily, but the conflict is because of their family
members.
I think my hypothesis is totally supported by the GSS data and the other
information that is given in the research. So, I believe that marriages are getting less
successful compared to the past. There are numbers that show this is true and also the
experiences of real people back up my claim that marriages are becoming less successful.
Also the level of happiness
Bibliography
Kantrowitz. “The science of a good marriage”. Newsweek. April 26, 1996 .
http://infotrac-college.thomsonlearning.com/itw/infomark /881/151/89301753w4/purl
1.
2. “Seven Decades of Marriage”. Jet June 26, 2006
http://infotrac-college.thomsonlearning.com/itw/infomark/881/151/89301753w4/purl
3. “Marriage won’t Guarantee Happiness”. United Press International. March 17, 2003
http://infotraccollege.thomsonlearning.com/itw/infomark/881/151/89301753w4/purlness is also
decreasing in married couple.