The 2022 American Family Survey found interesting differences in happiness and mental comfort levels for liberals and conservatives, and these differences were particularly acute for women.
Only 15% of liberal women in the age group surveyed said they were “completely satisfied” with their lives, compared to 31% of conservative women.
In the same vein, only 15% of liberal women reported being “completely satisfied” with their mental health, compared to 36% of conservative women.
Commenting on these findings, sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox is quoted as having made the following observations.
Two family factors have a lot to do with this ideological gap: marital status and family satisfaction. Given that conservatives aged 18-55 are about 20 percentage points more likely to be married, as well as 18 percentage points more likely to be satisfied with their families, the lesson here is obvious. Marriage and family are strongly linked to happiness and to personal mental health in particular.
While I doubt many readers of this site find the above either surprising or strange, it is always good to have confirmation of what was already believed to be true.
