Happiness Singled Out: Bidirectional Associations Between Singlehood and Life Satisfaction

Despite constituting a large portion of society, single people—and their satisfaction with singlehood and life—are rarely examined in their own right. How happy are single people and does their happiness change over time? In 3,439 people followed over 10 years, we found that people reported being more satisfied than not, but both singlehood satisfaction and life satisfaction declined over time. Older adults, men, and highly educated people, and people with worse health reported lower singlehood satisfaction. Constrained random-intercept cross-lagged panel models suggested that singlehood and life satisfaction had lagged bidirectional influences with each other. Results are discussed in the context of the origins of singlehood satisfaction and life satisfaction.

Tying the Universe

This contribution aims at giving an account for the complexity of Kūṭiyāṭṭam, which brings together elements coming from different traditions. In particular, there are possible parallels between these structures of Kūṭiyāṭṭam and Vedic rites: Kūṭiyāṭṭam has developed over centuries in Kerala’s orthodox temples and thus is strongly influenced by its Brahmanic patrons who, apart from that, still attend and preserve Vedic traditions. Similarly, Kūṭiyāṭṭam is strongly permeated by a ritual attitude: in the past it was considered the kuladharma (‘family duty’) of specific groups (Cākyārs, Naṅṅyārs, Nampyārs) and had its fixed time and place in the temple. Thus, this contribution examines possible bidirectional influences between these two traditions as they can be seen especially in Mantrāṅkam. Furthermore, it exemplifies the methodological issue of overlapping boundaries linking ‘ritual’ and ‘theatre’.