Once women hit age 60, those who are married and those who have never been married are equally happy, a new research finds.

一项新研究指出，女性到了60岁，无论结没结婚，她们都一样幸福。

In a survey of more than 51,000 adults in the United States, married people reported the highest happiness levels, and people who were widowed, divorced or never married reported lower happiness levels.

美国一项针对51000多名成年人进行的调查指出，结了婚的人，他们的幸福指数最高；而那些丧偶、离异或从未结过婚的人，他们的幸福指数较低。

But the exception was older, never-married women.

然而，那些从未结过婚的年长女性是个例外。

Marriage and happiness

婚姻和幸福

The researchers used data gathered over 38 years from the General Social Survey. Survey participants answered the question, "Taken all together, how would you say things are these days — would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy or not too happy?"

调研员利用综合社会调查在38年间收集的数据进行了研究。调查的参与人员回答了这样一个问题：“总的来说，你觉得这几天过得怎么样，你会说自己非常幸福，很幸福还是不太幸福呢？”

The researchers compared the reported happiness levels of different groups of men and women: married, unmarried, divorced and widowed people. Also, because widowed and divorced people are often older, on average, than married people, the researchers did a separate analysis for people age 60 and older.

研究人员比较了男性和女性不同群体的幸福指数，这几个群体分别为结婚的、未婚的、离异的以及丧偶的群体。另外，通常情况下，丧偶和离异的人往往比结了婚的人要年长一些，因此，研究人员对年龄在60岁及以上的人群进行了独立分析。

Happy as a clam

非常幸福

The researchers were surprised to find that the reported happiness levels of "never-married, older women are, in a lot of years, indistinguishable from [those of] married, older women."

研究人员惊讶地发现，多年里，那些“从未结过婚的年长女性”与那些结了婚的年长女性相比，他们的幸福指数并没有什么不同。

"The never-married, older men are, however, significantly less happy than the married men and generally not distinguishable from the divorced and widowed [men]."

“不过，那些从未结过婚的年长男性就明显不如那些结了婚的幸福，而且与那些离异或丧偶的男性相比，他们的幸福指数通常相同。”

"The overall message is that being formerly married, whether it's [due to] divorce or widowhood, is associated with lower levels of happiness."

“总的来说，以前结过婚的，不论是离异还是丧偶，他们的幸福指数都不高。”

The researchers added that it's not clear why married people tend to be happier. It could be that happy people get married or that marriage makes people happy.

研究人员补充道，为什么结了婚的人会更幸福，这一点还不太清楚。可能是幸福的人结了婚，或者是婚姻使人们幸福。