That's fine, because a mediocre or bad relationship is costly in comparison to what little it provides. Being single doesn't ensure loneliness, and being marrie

That's fine, because a mediocre or bad relationship is costly in comparison to what little it provides. Being single doesn't ensure loneliness, and being married doesn't imply the lack thereof. There are plenty of hedonic studies that show that married people are neither happier nor less happy, as a group, than singles, and that people with children are actually less happy when the children are young (which makes sense; young kids are annoying). This is often taken to indicate that romantic relationships have no bearing on personal happiness. That's wrong, actually. The average is flat, but individual people shift around (up, or down) a great deal. "Expectancy" in getting married, however, is about zero. If you settle out of some desire to be married for its own sake, it's probably negative.