Department of Economics and CentER, Tilburg University, P.O. Box 90153, Room P2.115, 5000, LE, Tilburg, the Netherlands.
Erasmus School of Economics, Postbus 1738, Room H12-10, 3000, DR, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Demography. 2018 Dec;55(6):2299-2320. doi: 10.1007/s13524-018-0725-0.
We analyze Dutch panel data to investigate whether partnership has a causal effect on subjective well-being. As in previous studies, we find that, on average, being in a partnership improves well-being. Well-being gains of marriage are larger than those of cohabitation. The well-being effects of partnership formation and disruption are symmetric. We also find that marriage improves well-being for both younger and older cohorts, whereas cohabitation benefits only the younger cohort. Our main contribution to the literature is on well-being effects of same-sex partnerships. We find that these effects are homogeneous to sexual orientation. Gender differences exist in the well-being effects of same-sex partnerships: females are happier cohabiting, whereas marriage has a stronger well-being effect on males.
我们分析了荷兰面板数据，以研究伴侣关系是否对主观幸福感有因果影响。与之前的研究一样，我们发现，平均而言，伴侣关系会改善幸福感。婚姻带来的幸福感提升大于同居。伴侣关系的形成和破裂对幸福感的影响是对称的。我们还发现，婚姻对年轻和年长群体都有改善幸福感的作用，而同居仅对年轻群体有益。我们对文献的主要贡献在于同性伴侣关系对幸福感的影响。我们发现这些影响与性取向是同质的。在同性伴侣关系的幸福感影响方面存在性别差异：女性同居更幸福，而婚姻对男性的幸福感影响更强。
