Correlations of life satisfaction and marital status in a post-socialist country: the Hungarian case

Our study examines the relationship between social inclusion and the marital status of individuals. The family is interpreted as an integration-based institution affecting satisfaction. Through the interpretation of the integration function of the family, we examine whether the individuals' life satisfaction is determined by their current marital status and what factors influence and explain the satisfaction with life in a post-socialist country a quarter of a century after the change of regime. Indeed, life satisfaction is one of the strongest social inclusion factors, so in our analysis, we seek to find out whether the different forms of coexistence (marriage, partnership, widowhood, divorced marital status) influence the level of satisfaction of individuals and what gender and other demographic and environmental features determine this the most. The study employs the database from the 'Integration and disintegration processes in Hungarian society' research. The sample contains 2687 people. The sample is nationally representative of gender, age, educational background, type of settlement, and region. The survey was made in 2015 with the support of OTKA (Hungarian Scientific Research Fund Programs). Through our path model analyses, we have proved that in society in Hungary the current marital status of individuals does not affect their satisfaction with life; rather, it is the quality of the cooperative spaces people live in, that is, primarily, the quality of their family relationships and their immediate living environment, and as a weaker but measurable impact, their subjectively perceived personal social prestige that does.