News about dads for dads

New Study: Children Make You Happier, Kind of

Writing for The New York Times Motherlode: Adventures in Parenting, KJ Dell’Antonia writes about a new study conducted by Chris M. Herbst and John Ifcher, that is challenging today’s cultural wisdom.

Researchers say, “Being a parent really does make people happier than the alternative — in part because over the past few decades, those who aren’t parents have been becoming gradually less happy.”

Dr. Herbst and Dr. Ifcher decided to study current body of research that has led to the accepted “parental happiness gap” — that parents are less happy, experience more depression and anxiety, and are more likely to be unhappy in their marriages than those who are not parents.

 Research suggests parents aren’t necessarily getting happier. Rather, parents without children answer questions like “Taken all together, how would you say things are these days — are you very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?” decreased from 1972 to 2008.

Why? Read the research to find out.

Click here to read the full article.

Return To Dad News >>