Happy Wife, Happy Life? Science Says The Cliche May Be True

Maintaining a solid marriage is difficult by any standard, but a new study out of Rutgers University suggests that the woman's happiness is a better predictor of long-term, heteronormative marital bliss than the man's satisfaction.

Researchers looked at nearly 400 couples who had been married for an average of 39 years. After asking them to keep diaries and indicate the levels of satisfaction each partner felt within the union, it turned out that men typically reported being happier.

What was interesting, however, is that the researchers discovered that men's spirits tended to be higher when their wives reported higher levels of happiness. Women, on the other hand, were not affected by shifts in their husband's happiness.

Carr also added that although women often become caregivers when their husbands fall ill, the happiness of men typically doesn't fall simply because their wives are stressed or less satisfied with such an arrangement. Hooray for caregiving!