Happiness gap in marriage could lead to divorce, says study
IF a man is happier than his wife, their marriage could be doomed, according to the results of a study published this week by a team of economists at Deakin University in Australia.
Data from couples in Australia, Germany and Britain showed that the greater the gap in happiness between man and wife, the higher the risk of divorce. 

The study also found that women were generally happier than men during marriage, while men were happier than women only in couples whose marriages ended in divorce.
The study looked at both married and common-law couples, and did not take into account individual stress factors like infidelity. 

The happiness gap was typically several times higher in common-law couples as opposed to married couples, said Dr Cahit Guven, lead author of the study.
Dr Guven said the happiness gap decreased in divorced couples after the divorce, but still remained higher than those who stayed married.
“This shows that they have made a bad choice at the beginning and the happiness gap stays at some level and does not disappear even though they are not together anymore,” he said.
Other factors in the probability of divorce included income levels, distribution of housework, the couple having divorced parents, or the husband being self-employed.
Guven said people marrying less similar people to them could be one of the reasons why a happiness gap occurs and thus divorce risks could be seen so early into a marriage. 

“Previous studies have shown that couples who marry with similar levels of schooling, age, country of origin, ethnicity religion and social background have longer marriages,” he said.