Mapping Life Satisfaction Over the First Years of Cohabitation Among Former Singles Living Alone in UK and Germany
Fuente:
Wiley Open Access
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Artículo Open Access |
| Published: |
Wiley
2025
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867006016728596480 |
|---|---|
| author | Usama EL‐Awad Robert Eves Justin Hachenberger Theresa M. Entringer Robin Goodwin Anu Realo Sakari Lemola |
| author_facet | Usama EL‐Awad Robert Eves Justin Hachenberger Theresa M. Entringer Robin Goodwin Anu Realo Sakari Lemola Usama EL‐Awad Robert Eves Justin Hachenberger Theresa M. Entringer Robin Goodwin Anu Realo Sakari Lemola |
| collection | Wiley Open Access |
| contents | Mapping Life Satisfaction Over the First Years of Cohabitation Among Former Singles Living Alone in UK and Germany Usama EL‐Awad Robert Eves Justin Hachenberger Theresa M. Entringer Robin Goodwin Anu Realo Sakari Lemola Journal of Personality ABSTRACT Objective As social norms and relationship dynamics evolve, it is important to examine how transitions from singlehood to partnership, cohabitation, and marriage relate to well‐being. Method Using data from two large panel studies in the UK and Germany (1984–2019), we identified N = 27,459 individuals who reported being single and living alone at least once. Analyses focused on a subset ( N = 1103; M age = 38.35, SD age = 13.87; 43.8% women) who later entered a relationship and moved in with a partner. Results Life satisfaction increased over the short to medium term after cohabitation across most socio‐demographic groups. The increase peaked in the year of moving in (Δ ≈ 0.48 SD) and remained above pre‐transition levels for the 2 subsequent years analyzed. Those who had found a partner one year before had already achieved significantly higher life satisfaction, while cohabitation showed no additional effect. Marriage showed a short‐lived additional effect in the early 1990s, but not more recently. Lower‐income individuals experienced a stronger post‐peak decline. Conclusion Findings suggest that well‐being increases are more closely aligned with relationship formation than with cohabitation or marriage. Among participants already in a relationship, increases in well‐being were observed prior to cohabitation, suggesting anticipatory effects. 10.1111/jopy.70013 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| doi_str_mv | 10.1111/jopy.70013 |
| format | Artículo Open Access |
| id | wiley_oa_10_1111_jopy_70013 |
| institution | Wiley Open Access |
| license_str_mv | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | wiley_oa |
| spellingShingle | Mapping Life Satisfaction Over the First Years of Cohabitation Among Former Singles Living Alone in UK and Germany Usama EL‐Awad Robert Eves Justin Hachenberger Theresa M. Entringer Robin Goodwin Anu Realo Sakari Lemola Journal of Personality Mapping Life Satisfaction Over the First Years of Cohabitation Among Former Singles Living Alone in UK and Germany Usama EL‐Awad Robert Eves Justin Hachenberger Theresa M. Entringer Robin Goodwin Anu Realo Sakari Lemola Journal of Personality ABSTRACT Objective As social norms and relationship dynamics evolve, it is important to examine how transitions from singlehood to partnership, cohabitation, and marriage relate to well‐being. Method Using data from two large panel studies in the UK and Germany (1984–2019), we identified N = 27,459 individuals who reported being single and living alone at least once. Analyses focused on a subset ( N = 1103; M age = 38.35, SD age = 13.87; 43.8% women) who later entered a relationship and moved in with a partner. Results Life satisfaction increased over the short to medium term after cohabitation across most socio‐demographic groups. The increase peaked in the year of moving in (Δ ≈ 0.48 SD) and remained above pre‐transition levels for the 2 subsequent years analyzed. Those who had found a partner one year before had already achieved significantly higher life satisfaction, while cohabitation showed no additional effect. Marriage showed a short‐lived additional effect in the early 1990s, but not more recently. Lower‐income individuals experienced a stronger post‐peak decline. Conclusion Findings suggest that well‐being increases are more closely aligned with relationship formation than with cohabitation or marriage. Among participants already in a relationship, increases in well‐being were observed prior to cohabitation, suggesting anticipatory effects. 10.1111/jopy.70013 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| title | Mapping Life Satisfaction Over the First Years of Cohabitation Among Former Singles Living Alone in UK and Germany |
| topic | Journal of Personality |
| url | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jopy.70013 |