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Parental Happiness : John Ifcher
Tuesday, May. 22, 2012
A new study, "A Bundle of Joy: Does Parenting Really Make You Miserable?” co-authored by John Ifcher, assistant professor of economics, was presented in early May at the annual Population Conference of America. The paper challenged previous research that said parents were unhappier than their childless counterparts.
Professor Ifcher and his colleagues found that the level of happiness of parents has held steady over the decades, while the happiness of people without children has declined since these studies began in 1972.
Ifcher and his co-author, Chris Herbst of Arizona State University, say the evidence suggests children may 'inoculate' parents against some social and economic forces that reduce happiness.
The findings attracted attention from Bloomberg BusinessWeek, USA Today, and the New York Times parenting blog.
Read the articles reporting on the paper from:
USA Today here >>
Bloomberg BusinessWeek here >> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-18/note-to-parents-believe-it-or-not-you-re-happy.html
New York Times Motherlode blog here >> http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/having-children-makes-you-relatively-happier/#postComment
