A New Study Confirms: Happy Wife, Happy Life

You know the old adage "a happy wife makes a happy life?" Turns out there's some truth to that statement. A new study from Rutgers University (opens in new tab) finds that when a wife is happier in their marriage (opens in new tab) or long-term relationship (opens in new tab), the husband will be happier with his life overall, regardless of his feelings about his marriage.

"I think it comes down to the fact that when a wife is satisfied with the marriage she tends to do a lot more for her husband, which has a positive effect on his life," said Deborah Carr, a professor in the Department of Sociology, School of Arts and Science at Rutgers University. To determine the results of the study, researchers questioned subjects on their relationship with their spouses: whether they appreciate them, argue with them, annoy them, or can empathize with them. They also looked at the subjects's lives separate from their spouse, and how both men and women felt about everyday tasks such as shopping and housework [was this just directed to the women or both parties] to analyze their satisfaction with their lives overall compared with their feelings about their marriages.

But that's not all the study revealed: A more depressing finding suggests that when her husband falls ill, it impacts a wife's happiness. But for men, if their wives fall ill, it doesn't affect his happiness. Let's just hope that doesn't stop said husbands from going to pick up their wives a bowl of chicken soup—even if they're not sad about the fact that she's sick in the first place.

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