Why aren't women happier these days?

    That's the question raised by a thought-provoking study, 'The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness,' released last month. The research showed that over the past 35 years women's happiness has declined, both compared to the past and relative to men even though, by most objective measures, the lives of women in the U.S. have improved in recent decades.

    The research, by University of Pennsylvania economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, and released by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found the decline in happiness to be pervasive among women across a variety of demographic groups. The researchers, for instance, measured similar declines in happiness among women who were single parents and married parents, 'casting doubt on the hypothesis that trends in marriage and divorce, single parenthood or work/family balance are at the root of the happiness declines among women,' they wrote.

    One theory for the decline in happiness is that expectations for workplace and general advancement were raised too high by the women's movement and women might 'feel inadequate for not 'having it all,'' as a Los Angeles Times columnist recently put it.

    The researchers acknowledge that's a possibility:

    'If the women's movement raised women's expectations faster than society was able to meet them,' the paper says, 'they would be more likely to be disappointed by their actual experienced lives.' But they add, things could change for the better: 'As women's expectations move into alignment with their experiences, this decline in happiness may reverse.'

    Readers, why do you think women are unhappier than in the past? Do you think that if expectations for 'having it all' were lowered to 'move into alignment with experiences,' women might be happier?

    現(xiàn)在女性的幸福感為什么下降了？

    五月公布的一項(xiàng)發(fā)人深思的調(diào)查《女性幸福感下降之詭辯》（The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness）提出了上述問(wèn)題。這項(xiàng)研究顯示，在過(guò)去的35年中，無(wú)論是縱向與過(guò)去相比，還是橫向與男性相比，女性的幸福感都下降了──盡管按照大多數(shù)客觀標(biāo)準(zhǔn)看，過(guò)去幾十年來(lái)美國(guó)女性的生活改善了。

    這項(xiàng)研究由賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家史蒂文森（Betsey Stevenson）和沃爾弗斯（Justin Wolfers）進(jìn)行，由美國(guó)國(guó)家經(jīng)濟(jì)研究局（National Bureau of Economic Research）公布。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在各類女性群體中，幸福感都普遍下降。舉例來(lái)講，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，單身母親和已婚母親中幸福感的下降幅度類似；他們寫道，這對(duì)一種假說(shuō)提出了質(zhì)疑，這種假說(shuō)認(rèn)為，婚姻、離婚、單身母親或工作/家庭平衡等問(wèn)題中的發(fā)展趨勢(shì)是導(dǎo)致女性幸福感下降的根源。

    正如《洛杉磯時(shí)報(bào)》（Los Angeles Times）一位專欄作家最近所寫的，關(guān)于幸福感下降的一個(gè)理論是，對(duì)工作和總體發(fā)展的期望值被婦女運(yùn)動(dòng)推得過(guò)高，如果沒(méi)有擁有一切，女性可能就覺(jué)得有所欠缺。

    研究人員承認(rèn)這是一種可能。

    研究報(bào)告說(shuō)，如果婦女運(yùn)動(dòng)提高女性期望值的速度高于社會(huì)滿足她們期望值的速度，那么她們將更有可能對(duì)實(shí)際經(jīng)歷的生活感到失望。不過(guò)研究人員說(shuō)，形勢(shì)也可能峰回路轉(zhuǎn)。他們寫道，隨著女性期望值與自身的經(jīng)歷更加貼近，幸福感的下降可能會(huì)逆轉(zhuǎn)。

    讀者朋友們，你認(rèn)為女性為什么沒(méi)有過(guò)去幸福了？你認(rèn)為，如果對(duì)"擁有一切"的期望值被降低到與經(jīng)歷相符的程度，女性是否可能更幸福？