The Happiest Wives in America

Who are the happiest wives in America? According to a new report by the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project, “When Baby Makes Three,” the surprising answer is: women who attend church at least weekly with their husband and have four or more children.

Interesting. I can’t imagine a wife being much happier than I am and we have no children (not because we’re preventing it…just hasn’t been in God’s plan for us until now). Among the report’s findings: Married parents do better if they spend time with each other, spend time with their children, are generous in helping out one another and have a satisfying sex life.

Pro-child attitudes are also very important. Agreeing that raising children is “one of life’s greatest joys” doubles the likelihood that these younger married women report being very happily married. ”We found that pronatalistic attitude is one of the top five predictors of marital happiness” for both wives and for husbands, the authors state.

Another large factor in the happiness of married women in America is their religious commitment. And not just their own, but their husband’s, as well. Only when husbands and wives both attend church regularly are wives more likely to be very happily married. Sixty-four percent of wives report being very happy when they and their husbands attend church (or synagogue or temple) regularly, compared to about 50 percent of wives in a marriage where only one spouse goes to church (or neither spouse does).

Wives in marriages where both spouses go to church regularly are also only about one-third as likely to report their marriage is at risk of divorce. (Husbands in these marriages are only one-quarter as likely to report thinking of divorce).

Seventy-seven percent of wives in marriage where both husband and wife believe “God is at the center of my marriage” report being very happy, and just 1 percent of such wives report feeling their marriages may end in divorce.

The survey indicates religious husbands with four or more children “are more likely to engage in regular acts of generosity — such as making coffee in the morning for their wives or frequently expressing affection — and to spend more quality time with their spouses compared to other husbands.” Well, I’d certainly hope so!

Here’s what many around the web are saying was the most surprising discovery in this new report: On average, the happiest marriages among the current generation are those who have no children and those who have four or more children.

So what are your thoughts? Are you wildly in love with your husband, a happy wife, and don’t fit into the results from this survey? Or does this survey accurately reflect you and those around you?

Yesterday, we talked about the results from the Married Sex survey. Today, let’s chat about the happiest wives in America.

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

Comments: With more than 20,000 Happy Wives Club members already actively engaged on our Facebook page, what better place to share your thoughts? Join me there and let’s continue the conversation: Happy Wives Club Facebook

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Fawn Weaver

Founder at Happy Wives Club

Fawn Weaver is the USA Today and New York Times bestselling author of Happy Wives Club: One Woman's Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage, adopting the same name as the Club she founded in 2010. The Happy Wives Club community has grown to include more than 1 million women in over 110 countries around the world. She’s an investor in real estate, tech sector and lifestyle brands. When she’s not writing or working, she's happily doting over her husband of twelve years, Keith (and sometimes manages to do all three simultaneously).