How committed your relationship is goes hand in hand with happiness and well-being, study discovers. People in relationships are generally happier than other people, a new Cornell University study finds. And spouses have the highest sense of well-being, whether they are happily married or not. The study of measures of well-being and happiness found that people who cohabit are next on the scale of happiness, followed by those in steady relationships and then those in casual relationships. Un-partnered people report the lowest levels of well-being.

The bottom line, say the researchers, is that having a romantic relationship makes both men and women happier -- and the stronger the relationship's commitment, the greater the happiness and sense of well-being of the partners. Interestingly, even those in relatively unhappy marriages appear to benefit from being married, Kamp Dush said, perhaps because they benefit from marriage's stability, commitment and social status.

In analyzing whether happier individuals are more likely to enter into committed relationships or if committed relationships actually improve well-being, the researchers found that moving into committed relationships makes people happier. Kamp Dush and co-author Paul Amato of Pennsylvania State University analyzed data from the study of Marital Instability Over the Life Course that included telephone interviews with 691 individuals in 1992 and 1997. Well-being was assessed with measures of self-esteem, life satisfaction, general happiness and distress symptoms.

Studying romantic relationships -- which range from casual dating to marriage -- is important, Kamp Dush noted, because such relationships have the potential to affect people's mental health, physical health, sexuality and financial status.

Source: http://spr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/22/5/607