Author Paul Dolan has made quite a splash with a new book that claims single women without children are happier than married women. When I started seeing this in online stories I knew something was wrong because as a sweeping generalisation this statement is not true!

So I started digging. At the end of an article about this in The Guardian I saw the following:

“This article was amended on 30 May 2019 to remove remarks by Paul Dolan that contained a misunderstanding of an aspect of the American Time Use Survey data.”

Dolan’s book is based on that data; if he misunderstood it, his findings are null and void. So I hit the WaybackMachine and found what was removed. It reads, in part:

“Married people are happier than other population subgroups, but only when their spouse is in the room when they’re asked how happy they are.“

One of the questions in the American Time Use Study study asked if a spouse is present or absent. The question was asking if a spouse was present or absent in the person’s life. But apparently, Dolan took it to be asking if the spouse was in the room when the survey was done. For more on this and other problems with the book, including well-done studies that conflict with it, see Happiness and Academic Malpractice.

I bring this up because telling women they would be happier if they were not married is both wrong and dangerous. If a woman is in a frustrating place in her marriage, this lie could push her to do things she will regret.

From what I’ve seen in many studies, a man is better off and happier married unless his marriage is a total disaster. A woman is better off and happier if her marriage is at least decent. So there is a gender difference, but it’s not what has been suggested by Dolan and those who have rushed to repeat his errors.

~ Paul – I’m XY, and the truth will set you free!

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