It's good to see you starting to use evidence to support your statements, Bill
However, I think you're reading too much into the study.
It doesn't say "conservative women are happier, therefore conservatism causes happiness". It just says "conservative women are happier".
It could be that conservatism causes happiness. It could be that, as Ann suggests, happiness tends to cause conservatism (conservatives are people who like the way the world is, after all).
It could be that something else causes both conservatism and happiness, and makes it appear like there's a direct link between them. This is known as a confounding variable. As cannotthinkoff points out, intelligence is a possibility:
cannotthinkoff wrote:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201003/why-liberals-are-more-intelligent-conservatives
http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/why-in ... e-unhappy/
Another: conservatives tend to be rich and white. These people have an easier life than poor, non-white people. You would need to
control for these factors to see that they were not confounding.
Another: conservatives tend to be old.
Old people are generally happier than young people. Perhaps being old is confounding?