来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2019年5月25日
We may have suspected it already, but now the science backs it up: unmarried and childless women are the happiest subgroup in the population. And they are more likely to live longer than their married and child-rearing peers, according to a leading expert in happiness.
我们可能已经怀疑了，但现在科学证实了这一点：未婚和无子女的女性是人群中最快乐的一个群体。一位研究幸福问题的权威专家表示，她们比已婚有孩子的同龄人更有可能长寿。
Speaking at the Hay festival on Saturday, Paul Dolan, a professor of behavioural science at the London School of Economics, said the latest evidence showed that the traditional markers used to measure success did not correlate with happiness – particularly marriage and raising children.
伦敦经济学院的行为科学教授多兰在周六的海伊文化节上表示，他说最新的证据表明，用来衡量成功的传统标志与幸福无关，尤其是婚姻和养育孩子。
“We do have some good longitudinal data following the same people over time, but I am going to do a massive harm to that science and just say: if you’re a man, you should probably get married; if you’re a woman, don’t bother.”
“我们确实在一段时间内对同一个人进行了跟踪调查，获得了一些很好的纵向数据，但我要对这一科学进行彻底的抨击，我只是说：如果你是男性，你可能应该结婚；如果你是女性，就不用麻烦了。”
Men benefited from marriage because they “calmed down”, he said. “You take less risks, you earn more money at work, and you live a little longer. She, on the other hand, has to put up with that, and dies sooner than if she never married. The healthiest and happiest population subgroup are women who never married or had children,” he said.
他说，男性从婚姻中受益，因为他们“平静下来”。“你承担的风险更少，工作挣的钱更多，寿命也更长一些。另一方面，她不得不忍受这一切，她会比不结婚死得更早。最健康、最幸福的人群是那些从未结过婚或从未生过孩子的女性。
Dolan’s latest book, Happy Ever After, cites evidence from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which compared levels of pleasure and misery in unmarried, married, divorced, separated and widowed individuals.
多兰的新书《从此幸福快乐》引用了美国人时间使用调查(ATUS)的证据，该调查比较了未婚、已婚、离婚、分居和丧偶人群的快乐和痛苦水平。
Other studies have measured some financial and health benefits in being married for both men and women on average, which Dolan said could be attributed to higher incomes and emotional support, allowing married people to take risks and seek medical help.
其他一些研究测量了结婚对男性和女性的平均经济和健康益处，多兰说，这可能归因于更高的收入和情感支持，允许已婚人士承担风险和寻求医疗帮助。
However, Dolan said men showed more health benefits from tying the knot, as they took fewer risks. Women’s health was mostly unaffected by marriage, with middle-aged married women even being at higher risk of physical and mental conditions than their single counterparts.
不过，多兰说，男性从结婚中得到的健康益处更多，因为他们承担的风险更少。婚姻不会给妇女的健康带来什么益处，中年已婚妇女甚至比单身妇女面临更高的身体和精神状况风险。
Despite the benefits of a single, childless lifestyle for women, Dolan said that the existing narrative that marriage and children were signs of success meant that the disgrace could lead some single women to feel unhappy.
多兰说，尽管单身、无子女的生活方式对女性有好处，但目前认为婚姻和孩子是成功的标志的说法意味着，这种耻辱感可能会导致一些单身女性感到不快乐。
“You see a single woman of 40, who has never had children – ‘Bless, that’s a shame, isn’t it? Maybe one day you’ll meet the right guy and that’ll change.’ No, maybe she’ll meet the wrong guy and that’ll change. Maybe she’ll meet a guy who makes her less happy and healthy, and die sooner.”
“你看到一个从未有过孩子的40岁的单身女人——‘天哪，这太可惜了，不是吗？也许有一天你会遇到合适的男人，一切都会改变。’不，也许她会遇到错误的人，一切都会变的。也许她会遇到一个让她不那么快乐和健康的男人，然后死得更早。”