Somewhat, there are studies that control for "never married" vs "divorced", and other studies that lump them together. In the cases of "never married", their h

Somewhat, there are studies that control for "never married" vs "divorced", and other studies that lump them together. In the cases of "never married", their happiness level approached that of married people in the last 10-15 years. Whereas divorced people were absolutely miserable, especially in the first few years following the separation. This suggests that it's the divorcees who bring down the average happiness level of the "single" group, not that "marriage" brings up the happiness levels.