by Angelica La Rosa

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MARRIED PARENTS REPORT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF HAPPINESS, WITH 40% OF MARRIED MOTHERS AND 35% OF MARRIED FATHERS DESCRIBING THEMSELVES AS VERY HAPPY

A September 12 survey by the Institute for Family Studies shows that marriage is the biggest factor in people’s reports of happiness. Married parents report the highest levels of happiness, with 40% of married mothers and 35% of married fathers describing themselves as very happy. By comparison, only 17% of unmarried women and 12% of unmarried men with children say they are happy.

Ruth Institute President Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D., said: “This does not surprise me. Pope St. John Paul II repeatedly taught that the human person is meant for love. In his first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis (The Redeemer of Man), he wrote: ‘Man cannot live without love…. his life is senseless if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter it and make it his own.’”

“We are happiest when we are loving and being loved,” Morse said. “Married women and men with children have the best chance of receiving stable, reliable love from their spouses. They also have the opportunity to give love to each other and to their children on a regular basis. No wonder married parents are the happiest demographic group!”

“The idea that independence and autonomy are the key to happiness was never more than an ideological fantasy. Advocates of big government promoted this out of self-interest. Employers loved the idea that having a job would make women happy. They could position themselves as the good progressives who just happened to benefit from a new pool of workers who were eager to prove themselves,” Morse said.

“I personally never doubted that I wanted to be a mother. I can honestly say that the years I spent at home with children: adopted, birth, and foster, were the happiest years of my life.”

Dr. Morse has spoken around the world on marriage, family and human sexuality and authored six books on these topics. The Ruth Institute also has a Marriage Resource Center which explains the importance of marriage to both the individual and society.

The Ruth Institute is a global non-profit organization, leading an international interfaith coalition to defend the family and build a civilization of love.