When it comes to marriage, wealthy white men with extreme political views are the most likely group to be happy in their situation, according to a new analysis.

A sociologist analyzing responses to three surveys conducted between 2012 and 2016 has identified the trends among people who reported they are ‘very happy’ in marriage.

While the majority of respondents reported they were happy to some degree, men more commonly reported they were ‘very happy,’ along with middle- and upper-class people, and those who regularly attend religious services.

When it comes to marriage, wealthy white men with extreme political views are the most likely group to be happy in their situation, according to a new analysis. A stock image is pictured

WHO IS HAPPIEST? Cohen combined the last three surveys, from 2012, 2014, and 2016, and compared the results for sex, race, social class, religious attendance, and political views. Those most likely to report they were 'very happy' were: Male

Upper class

Attend church more than once per week

Have extreme political views Advertisement

For the new analysis, University of Maryland sociologist Philip N. Cohen examined data from the General Social Survey, which goes back to 1973.

His findings, detailed in a new blog post, follow-up on a previous effort which investigated the happiness trend from 2006 to 2012.

Then, the researcher noted a ‘bonafide trend back toward happiness’ among married couples.

With the new data, the researcher once again looked at the trends in how people describe their marriage, from ‘very happy’ to ‘not too happy.’

‘I repeated this analysis controlling for age, race/ethnicity, and education, and year specified in quadratic form,’ Cohen wrote.

‘This shows happiness falling to a trough at 2004 and then starting to trend back.

‘But given the last two points, confidence in that rebound is weak. Still a solid majority are happy with their marriages.’

After doing this, the researcher then honed in on the groups who reported they were ‘very happy.’

For the new analysis, University of Maryland sociologist Philip N. Cohen examined data from the General Social Survey, which goes back to 1973. He found that, overall, people were happy to some degree

While the majority of respondents reported they were happy to some degree, men more commonly reported they were ‘very happy,’ along with middle- and upper-class people, and those who regularly attend religious services. This can be seen in the graph above

To do this, Cohen combined the last three surveys, from 2012, 2014, and 2016, and compared the results for sex, race, social class, religious attendance, and political views.

The data show people with strong political views are among the happiest.

This includes people who are extremely liberal and extremely conservative.

People who attend a religious service one or more times per week were also most likely to report they were ‘very happy’ in marriage, along with wealthier participants.

And, men were found to be happier than women.