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Can putting your child before yourself make you a happier person?

Study explores the correlation between child-centric behavior and parental happiness and fulfillment

2013-11-01
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Camille Gamboa
camille.gamboa@sagepub.com
805-410-7441
SAGE Publications
Can putting your child before yourself make you a happier person? Study explores the correlation between child-centric behavior and parental happiness and fulfillment Los Angeles, CA (October 31, 2013) While popular media often depicts highly-involved parents negatively as "helicopter parents" or "tiger moms, how does placing one's children at the center of family life really affect parental well-being? New research published in Social Psychological and Personality Science finds that parents who prioritize their children's well-being over their own are not only happier, but also derive more meaning in life from their child-rearing responsibilities.

"These findings stand in contrast to claims in the popular media that prioritizing children's well-being undermines parents' well-being," the researchers wrote.

Researchers Claire E. Ashton-James, Kostadin Kushlev and Elizabeth W. Dunn conducted two studies with a total of 322 parents. In Study 1, parents were asked to complete a child-centrism scale to measure their parenting style and were then given a survey to measure the happiness and meaning in life that they experienced from having children by responding to statements such as "My children make my life meaningful." The researchers found that more child-centric parents were significantly more likely to report higher happiness and a sense of purpose in life derived from having children.

In Study 2, participants were asked to retell their previous day's activities and report how they felt during each activity. The results indicated that more child-centric parents had greater positive feelings, less negative feelings, and experienced more meaning in life during child-care activities. In addition, the well-being of more child-centric parents was not affected negatively throughout the rest of the day, suggesting that the child-centric approach to parenting does not hurt parental well-being when parents are not taking care of their children.

"These findings suggest that the more care and attention people give to others, the more happiness and meaning they experience," the authors wrote. "From this perspective, the more invested parents are in their children's well-being—that is, the more 'child centric' parents are—the more happiness and meaning they will derive from parenting."

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The article entitled "Parents Reap What They Sow: Child-Centrism and Parental Well-Being" published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, is available free for a limited time at: http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/03/13/1948550613479804.full.pdf+html

Social Psychological and Personality Science (SPPS) is a unique short reports journal in social and personality psychology. It publishes cutting-edge, peer-reviewed, short reports of single studies, or very succinct reports of multiple studies, and is geared toward a speedy review and publication process to allow groundbreaking research to be quickly available to the field. http://spp.sagepub.com/

SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. http://www.sagepublications.com

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[Press-News.org] Can putting your child before yourself make you a happier person?
Study explores the correlation between child-centric behavior and parental happiness and fulfillment