People who are married or cohabiting in general, significantly happier than singles, Widows and widowers, or the divorced or separated living alone. As for the children of the divided parents, they are twice as likely to experience a variety of social, psychological or academic problems.
Happiness tends to be greater among those who have paying work. Death rate and incidences of illness, depression, suicide, and alcoholism are notably higher among the unemployed and yet housewives are no more dissatisfied than professionals. It is also interesting to note that retirement makes life not less satisfying, but rather more so. The elderly see their lives as less pleasant as those of the young, but they enjoy more stable over all satisfaction and feel more positive emotions. Age, it seems can grant relative wisdom. Happiness tends to be more pronounced among highly energetic people in good physical condition. It does not seem to be linked to climate, contrary to received wisdom, people are no happier in sunny regions than they are in rainy ones, except for the pathological cases of those suffering from depression due to the long winter nights northern latitudes.
Leisure activities enhance satisfaction, especially among those who do not work ( the retired, those of independent means, the unemployed), in part because people are more in voluntary control of what they do. Vacations have a positive effect on well-being, calm and health. Only three percent of people complain of headaches, as opposed to twenty one percent of those working. The same disparity holds true for fatigue and irritability. It should noted by that watching Television as popular as it is leads to only a minimal increase in well-being. As for those who watch a lot, they are on average less happy. In the US and in Europe people spent an average of 3.5 Hours a day in front of TV set. That is the whole year of life every seven years!
