print

Correlational findings

Study Wingen et al. (2012): study NL 1998

Public
20+ aged, The Netherlands, 1998-2009
Survey name
NL-POLS 1997-2009
Sample
Respondents
N = 240000
Non Response
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face

Correlate

Authors's Label
Change in marital status
Our Classification
Remarks
Data: Social Statistical Database which covers civil registration data. Survey participants identified using their (encrypted) civil service number
Distribution
a: 0,11%; b: 0,30%; c: 0,09%; No event: 99.50%
Operationalization
Change in marital status 1998-2009
as registered in civil registration
a: going to be/got married
b: going to be/got divorced
c: going to be/got widowed

Observed Relation with Happiness

Happiness Measure Statistics Elaboration / Remarks O-HP-u-sq-v-5-a DM = AVERAGE happiness in the years before and after CHANGE in marital status. O-SLL-c-sq-v-5-d DM = a: Getting married is followed by a slight uplift of happiness that lasts several years
b+c: Getting widowed or divorce is preceeded by a sharp drop in happiness, followed by a recovery which does not reach pre-event level.

Cross sectional survey data on happiness linked to registration data on mutations in marital status.