Entitlement, Marital Status Satisfaction, Hope, Self-Esteem and the Impact of Marital Status
Author:
Zulema GrewalMentor:
Virgil H Adams III, Program Chair & Associate Professor of Psychology, California State University Channel IslandsResearch has suggested that married people are frequently happier than those who are single. Support has been demonstrated by higher suicidal rates for those unmarried, widowed, and divorced. This is exasperated by a continual decline in marriage rates over the past twenty years—it appears that single people may be happier! Indeed, other studies have supported this notion by concluding that marriage has indicated only a short-term increase in marital status satisfaction and well-being before eventually showing no difference from those who are single. Other researchers have previously concluded that single individuals who eventually get married are happier before marriage. The current study is based upon survey results from a sample of adults (n=863). It was hypothesized that married couples would have a lower sense of entitlement, and a higher sense of hope, self-esteem, marital status satisfaction, and overall well-being in comparison to those never married. The one-way ANOVA test results indicated significant results for self-esteem, hope, entitlement, and marital status satisfaction, but contrary to the hypothesis, showed no significant variance in well-being was accounted for by marital status. Findings indicated significantly higher feelings of self-esteem and marital satisfaction, a slight increase in hope, and a significantly lower sense of entitlement for married individuals as compared to those who were single. There were no differences in well-being levels. Discussion focuses on marital status and its relationship to entitlement, hope, self-esteem and well-being.