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iarwain1 comments on Happiness and Children - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: Carinthium 26 June 2014 07:36AM

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Comment author: iarwain1 26 June 2014 01:34:38PM 1 point [-]

IIRC Ed Diener seemed to have a nuanced and balanced summary of the research in his book Happiness: Unlocking the Secrets of Psychological Wealth, I think in Chapter 4.

Comment author: chaosmage 26 June 2014 05:42:48PM 0 points [-]

Care to summarize his summary?

Comment author: iarwain1 26 June 2014 06:26:12PM 3 points [-]

Give me about 24-48 hours - I just put in a hold request at the local library, but I don't think I'm going to go pick up until tomorrow.

Comment author: iarwain1 30 June 2014 09:34:57PM *  4 points [-]

Sorry it took so long. Here's a brief summary:

  • Most studies don't show children to have a significant effect on the parents' happiness, either + or -.
  • We need to take into account that children have effects on different types of happiness. On the one hand parents get to enjoy all those wonderful evenings reading to their children, playing with them, seeing them grow, etc. On the other hand they can exhaust us in many different ways (even as little kids, forget about teenagers). And then there's the "side effects" such as having to earn a higher income to support them.
  • It seems to depend on the person, and which form of happiness you value more. If you value the type of happiness that children increase more than you value the type of happiness that they reduce, then go for it. Otherwise don't.
  • There may be a difference between men and women. One Danish study shows that a first child increases average happiness for women but not for men.
  • Having multiple children seems to decrease average overall happiness.
  • The teenage years are brutal for happiness, but once the kids move out then happiness goes back up (you get to play with the grandkids and let the parents deal with them).
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