Amsterdam, Apr 24 (IANS): Is your wife a cheerful person? If yes, then you are more likely to lead a healthier and longer life as compared to those who have less happy partners, reveals a new study.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, suggests that having a happy spouse not only leads to a longer marriage but also a longer and healthier life.

"The data shows that spousal life satisfaction was associated with mortality, regardless of individuals' socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, or their physical health status," said study author Olga Stavrova, a researcher at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

For the study, the researchers studied about 4,400 US couples, aged over 50.

They observed that spouses' life satisfaction was an even better predictor of participants' mortality than participants' own life satisfaction.

"The findings underscore the role of individuals' immediate social environment in their health outcomes. Most importantly, it has the potential to extend our understanding of what makes up individuals' 'social environment' by including the personality and well-being of individuals' close ones," said Stavrova.

"People who have a happy, active spouse, for example, are likely to have an active lifestyle themselves," noted Stavrova.

The researchers pointed out that a partner's life satisfaction may have important consequences for health and longevity.

"If your partner is depressed and wants to spend the evening eating chips in front of the TV -- that's how your evening will probably end up looking, as well."

The study's findings showed that greater partner life satisfaction was linked to participants' lower mortality risk.