Depressing News

According to a study by University of Virginia researchers discussed on slate.com, "the women who strongly identify as progressive—the 15 percent who agree most with feminist ideals—have a harder time being happy than their peers." Author Meaghan O'Rourke ponders this happiness gap:

Dismantling a tradition and carving out a new one can be far more confusing than adjusting to glitches in the status quo. Progressive women find themselves navigating marriage as a choose-your-own-adventure story, which raises the chances of feeling that they perhaps made the wrong turn along the way. A progressive-minded woman doesn't just have higher expectations; she's more likely to pay attention to every setback, and see her husband's failure to listen at dinner as evidence of larger inequity.

Meanwhile, pollsters from the Pew Research Center have determined which Americans are the happiest. They report,

Married people are happier than unmarrieds. People who worship frequently are happier than those who don't. Republicans are happier than Democrats. Rich people are happier than poor people. Whites and Hispanics are happier than blacks. Sunbelt residents are happier than those who live in the rest of the country.

Evidently, Republicans have been happier than Democrats every year since the survey started, in 1972, so it's not just a matter of being the party in power. At least I'm married. According to the Pew researchers, though, my cats probably don't contribute to or detract from my happiness; pet owners were not any happier than non-pet-owners. Since I'm not going to change my race or my state of residence, the one thing I could do to increase my happiness the most would be to make more money. It turns out you can buy happiness after all.