Career, Marriage and Happiness

One of the oft-discussed topics among friends and I is what makes us happy. As we get older, we increasingly realize how elusive happiness can be, even if the world may seem to be our individual oyster. And career-mind people as we are, we tend to think that some improvement in our work life will generate greater fulfillment. However, upon reaching that goal, we don't actually find ourselves significantly happier.

So. We're angsty people, no apologies needed?

Earlier this afternoon, an NYT article discussing the determinants to happiness caught my eye, because the author asserts that:

Marital happiness is far more important than anything else in determining personal well-being. If you have a successful marriage, it doesn’t matter how many professional setbacks you endure, you will be reasonably happy. If you have an unsuccessful marriage, it doesn’t matter how many career triumphs you record, you will remain significantly unfulfilled.

The author goes on to cite a solid field of research displaying the lack of a relationship between happiness and money or professional success.

And to be honest, I was pretty impressed. The idea, that money doesn't drive happiness but healthy relationships do, is a fairly convincing one, because of how intuitive it sounds. Until I saw this comment from a fellow reader:

The flaw that always exists in happiness surveys is that one never knows if good marriages make happy people or if happy people make good marriages.

I'm embarrassed to admit how stumped I am. Despite being a researcher, I forgot the causality flaw! Shit!