The number one predictor of happiness isn’t money. It’s a not a big house, a good job, or higher education, either. It’s a good marriage. That’s according to Dr. Brad Wilcox, Professor of Sociology and Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. “The state of our unions is really important for the state of our union,” Wilcox told Drew Mariani.

Staying Married

While many cite the high number of divorces in society, “divorce really peaked in 1980. And so, your risk of divorce has fallen since then,” Wilcox said.

For those who are married, date nights are important for keeping the marital spark alive. “We see in the data that couples who regularly have date nights at least once a month…are most likely to have sex once a week,” Wilcox explained.

Having shared accounts bank accounts also contributes to martial success. “Couples who are combining their resources…are about 13 percent points more likely to be very happy and almost 20 percent points less likely to be thinking about divorce,” the professor said. And while some might still be skeptical of this statistic, Wilcox cited an experimental study which examined couples and shared accounts. “They found the couples who are randomly assigned to joint accounts in the first two years of marriage were doing…a lot better than the couples who are randomly assigned to keeping their money separate.”

The Problem of Elites  

Though the benefits of marriage are clear from the data, marriage has a messaging problem. According to Wilcox, many of the elites who occupy American institutions don’t promote marriage—even though many of them are married. “On family matters, they ‘talk left’ but ‘walk right’ –an unusual form of hypocrisy that, however well intended, contributes to American inequality, increases misery, and borders on the immoral.”

Wilcox proposes three solutions to this problem. First, he argues that “people who teach classes or write articles and books could tell the truth about marriage and family to their students and audiences.” Second, schools ought to promote the success sequence of “education, work, marriage, and child-rearing.” This sequence, according to Wilcox, is linked to “positive economic outcomes.” Finally, Wilcox proposes that policymakers remove economic barriers that disincentivize marriage.

 

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