Single and Married Undergraduates' Measured Personality Needs and Self-Rated Happiness

Undergraduate married and single students were compared on measured personality needs, self-rated happiness, and perceived problems. The married males and females were found to have significantly higher personality scores for needs associated with intellectualism and academic achievement, the single groups for activities associated with impulsive self-expression and emotional dependence. Few married males or females said that they had ever withdrawn from college because of marriage. The great majority of married undergraduates, especially males, rated their marriage as happy and expressed somewhat higher satisfaction with their life situation than did the single undergraduates. Few large differences appeared between married and single groups on self-perceived current life problems, except that about twice as many single students, especially males, rated worry over studies as a problem.