Before “I do” – The University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project released a study looking at how different factors affect marriage quality. They found that better marriages were correlated with having fewer sexual partners before marriage (for women), making deliberate decisions about relationship milestones, and having lots of guests at your wedding.

After kids – Parenthood isn’t always a burden. A study out of the University of California-Riverside found that parents tend to be happier if they are older, male, and secure about their relationships; if their children are easy-tempered and older; and if they have social support and are still married.

Big, happy government – A study out of Baylor University found that people are happier when they live under governments that spend more money on social services.

Positive attitude – A study out of the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine found that schizophrenics are happier than you might think. 37 percent of patients report being happy all or most of the time, and happiness was correlated with “positive psychological and social attributes such as resilience, optimism and lower perceived stress” rather than severity of illness.

Photo by Flickr user Premshree Pillai