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Do divorcing couples become happier by breaking up?
Author(s) -
Gardner Jonathan,
Oswald Andrew J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of the royal statistical society: series a (statistics in society)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.103
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1467-985X
pISSN - 0964-1998
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-985x.2006.00403.x
Subject(s) - remarriage , life satisfaction , psychology , well being , panel survey , british household panel survey , social psychology , developmental psychology , demographic economics , clinical psychology , economics , political science , psychotherapist , law
Summary. Divorce is a leap in the dark. The paper investigates whether people who split up actually become happier. Using the British Household Panel Survey, we can observe an individual's level of psychological well‐being in the years before and after divorce. Our results show that divorcing couples reap psychological gains from the dissolution of their marriages. Men and women benefit equally. The paper also studies the effects of bereavement, of having dependant children and of remarriage. We measure well‐being by using general health questionnaire and life satisfaction scores.