American Nightmare
Over generations of prosperity and growth, the American Dream has become an American Expectation- a version of happiness acheived by entitlement and equation. Two fat incomes plus a two-car garage plus two master-bathroom sinks plus two-point-something kids equals one happy family.
The facts are, we have grown continuously depressed over the last half-century. A recent analysis of the World Database of Happiness, covering 1946 to 2006, found rising happiness levels in 19 of 26 countries around the world, the United States was not one of them.
Increasingly, America deifies the nuclear family. It's the psychological and economic basis for this whole grand experiment in living. You get married, but social scientists have found a poor marriage may be worse than staying single, and that the state of our unions- in the words of one massive new study- is fragile and weak. You have children, but surveys have discovered more depression and unhappiness in adults with kids than in those without.
A certain grandmother ran a farm, gave birth to seven children and was married to her husband until he died, right after their 51st anniversary. It was a good marriage, by all accounts, but she would have laughed in your face if asked was he your best friend. Now, we expect our marriage partner to be our best friend and a great lover, a great parent and a soul mate, really good looking and have a great sense of humor. We have these expectations for marriage we can't possibly fulfill.
Psychology Today
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