PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Americans with and without children at home report similar life satisfaction but more positive and negative emotions

2014-01-14
(Press-News.org) Contact information: B. Rose Huber
brhuber@princeton.edu
609-258-0157
Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Americans with and without children at home report similar life satisfaction but more positive and negative emotions PRINCETON, N.J.—Americans aged 34 to 46 with children at home rate their life satisfaction at higher levels than those without children at home, according to a report by Princeton University and Stony Brook University published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. However, the researchers say that factors such as higher educational attainment, higher income, better health and religiosity all enhance life satisfaction and that, once these are taken into account, parents and nonparents have similar levels of life satisfaction.

"It is simply a mistake to presume that because people deliberately want children and deliberately bring them into being that those people with children should have better lives," said Angus Deaton, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. "Nonparents are not 'failed' parents, and parents are not 'failed' nonparents. Some people like oranges, and some like apples, and we do not think that orange eaters should have better or worse lives than apple eaters."

Regardless of those controlling factors, adults with children at home report experiencing more emotional highs and lows than those without children at home.

Past studies have suggested that nonparents are more satisfied with their lives than parents, but less attention has been paid to the effects of parents' favorable life circumstances on those rankings, the researchers write. With Arthur Stone, Stony Brook University Distinguished Professor and a visiting research scholar in the Wilson School, Deaton examined data primarily from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, a survey of 1.8 million Americans who evaluated their lives and reported daily emotional experiences between 2008 and 2012. The researchers focused on the 34-46 age group because the Gallup data set did not clarify the relationship between children in the home and a parental relationship; a separate survey was used to estimate that 90 percent of adults between 34-46 are parents of the children living with them (as opposed to another familial relationship).

Unlike previous studies, the work by Deaton and Stone examined two components of subjective well-being: participants' overall evaluation of their lives and their daily emotions. Participants were asked such questions as: How close is your life to being ideal? And, to evaluate emotions, such questions as: How did you feel yesterday? Answers included happy, sad, angered, worried or stressed.

The researchers found that all emotions – happiness, smiling, enjoyment, worry, stress and anger – were markedly higher among those who have children at home. Once other important factors were allowed for, their rankings of life evaluation were similar to those without children at home. The only exception to this pattern is for physical pain: Having a child at home is associated with a lower prevalence of pain.

"Life evaluation is not the same as experienced emotions, such as happiness, enjoyment, sadness, worry or stress," said Deaton. "The results show that, no matter what else is taken into account, parents experience more of all of these than nonparents. There are good days and bad, ups and downs."

In terms of people who chose to have children versus those who did not, Deaton and Stone argue that they are different sets of people with different ideas of makes for a good life. For other countries, where there is strong social pressure to become parents, Deaton and Stone say their argument does not apply.

"In such countries, as likely is the case in many poor countries around the world, people may have children even when it does not increase their own life evaluation, though it may increase that of their parents or communities," said Deaton. "The empirical evidence for those countries does indeed show that parents have lower life evaluations, on average."

### The paper, "Evaluative and hedonic wellbeing among those with and without children at home," was published online Jan. 13 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging through the National Bureau of Economic Research and by the Gallup Organization.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Weighing particles at the attogram scale

2014-01-14
Weighing particles at the attogram scale CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MIT engineers have devised a way to measure the mass of particles with a resolution better than an attogram — one millionth of a trillionth of a gram. Weighing these tiny particles, including both ...

Transcendental experiences during meditation

2014-01-14
Transcendental experiences during meditation Overview of research on individuals experiencing higher states of consciousness published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Today, millions of Americans say they practice some form of yoga and/or meditation. ...

Parents accidentally confuse their children's names more often when the names sound alike

2014-01-14
Parents accidentally confuse their children's names more often when the names sound alike New University of Texas at Austin research explains why parents mistakenly call their children by their sibling's -- or the family pet's -- name AUSTIN, Texas – When ...

Researchers find substantial drop in use of affirmative action in college admissions

2014-01-14
Researchers find substantial drop in use of affirmative action in college admissions WASHINGTON, D.C., January 13, 2014 - University of Washington researchers Grant H. Blume and Mark C. Long have produced the first empirical estimates using national-level ...

Researchers identify key proteins responsible for electrical communication in the heart

2014-01-14
Researchers identify key proteins responsible for electrical communication in the heart Findings shed light on the root of healthy heart function and reveal a class of drugs that can prevent erratic heartbeats tied to heart attacks, strokes and other health ...

NASA's infrared satellite imagery shows wind shear affecting Cyclone Ian

2014-01-14
NASA's infrared satellite imagery shows wind shear affecting Cyclone Ian Tropical Cyclone Ian has been battered by wind shear and infrared imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite revealed that the bulk of the precipitation has been pushed east and southeast of the storm's ...

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia traced from genetic roots to physical defect

2014-01-14
Congenital diaphragmatic hernia traced from genetic roots to physical defect Rensselaer researchers contribute to discovery of gene associated with deadly birth defect Troy, N.Y. – A team including researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered ...

Study demonstrates need to change scoring system for heart disease

2014-01-14
Study demonstrates need to change scoring system for heart disease Dense heart plaques may have protective quality A study led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine shows that one of the most widely used systems for ...

EARTH Magazine: Climate, terroir and wine: What matters most in producing a great wine?

2014-01-14
EARTH Magazine: Climate, terroir and wine: What matters most in producing a great wine? Alexandria, VA – What goes into a great wine and what role does geology play? Wine experts use the word terroir to describe the myriad environmental influences, including ...

Small molecule shows promise as anti-cancer therapy

2014-01-14
Small molecule shows promise as anti-cancer therapy Johns Hopkins scientists say a previously known but little studied chemical compound targets and shuts down a common cancer process. In studies of laboratory-grown human tumor cell lines, the drug disrupted tumor cell ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Exercise as an anti-ageing intervention to avoid detrimental impact of mental fatigue

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time

‘Some insects are declining but what’s happening to the other 99%?’

Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

American College of Physicians awards $260,000 in grants to address equity challenges in obesity care

Researchers from MARE ULisboa discover that the European catfish, an invasive species in Portugal, has a prolonged breeding season, enhancing its invasive potential

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, honored with the 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration

Deporting immigrants may further shrink the health care workforce

Border region emergency medical services in migrant emergency care

Resident physician intentions regarding unionization

[Press-News.org] Americans with and without children at home report similar life satisfaction but more positive and negative emotions