Arbeitspapier

Subjective Well-Being and Partnership Dynamics: Are Same-Sex Relationships Different?

Partnered individuals are happier than singles. This can be because partnership leads to more satisfactory subjective well-being or because happier people are more likely to find a partner. We analyze Dutch panel data to investigate whether there is a causal effect of partnership on subjective well-being. Our data allow us to distinguish between marriage and cohabitation and between same-sex partnerships and opposite-sex ones. Our results support the short-term crisis model and adaptation theory. We find that marital partnership improves well-being and that these benefits are homogeneous to sexual orientation. The well-being gains of marriage are larger than those of cohabitation. Investigating partnership formation and disruption, we discover that the well-being effects are symmetric. Finally, we find that marriage improves well-being for both younger and older cohorts while cohabitation only benefits younger cohort.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 11043

Classification
Wirtschaft
Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
Subject
subjective well-being
happiness
marriage
cohabitation
sexual orientation

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Chen, Shuai
van Ours, Jan C.
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
(where)
Bonn
(when)
2017

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET

Data provider

This object is provided by:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.

Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Chen, Shuai
  • van Ours, Jan C.
  • Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Time of origin

  • 2017

Other Objects (12)