
Women are happier without children or a spouse - temp99990
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/25/women-happier-without-children-or-a-spouse-happiness-expert
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leepowers
_“Married people are happier than other population subgroups, but only when
their spouse is in the room when they’re asked how happy they are. When the
spouse is not present: fucking miserable,” he said._

 _“We do have some good longitudinal data following the same people over time,
but I am going to do a massive disservice to that science and just say: if
you’re a man, you should probably get married; if you’re a woman, don’t
bother.”_

Obviously this guy is speaking off the cuff. And the article is light on
detail and doesn't reference any studies.

Study from 2017 that makes the opposite claim:

[https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-017-9941-3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-017-9941-3)

 _Using data from the British Household Panel Survey, we control individual
pre-marital well-being levels and find that the married are still more
satisfied, suggesting a causal effect at all stages of the marriage, from pre-
nuptual bliss to marriages of long-duration._

A brief APA article describes possible marital bliss confounders:

[https://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/10/marriage](https://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/10/marriage)

In short: marriage _qua_ marriage won't make anyone happy; children reduce
reduce happiness; economic insecurity causes unhappiness.

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tonyedgecombe
I’ve seen another report that said children reduce happiness if you are poor
and increase it if you are rich. I guess the rich can afford to outsource some
of the parental responsibilities.

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hjk05
I’d expect that it’s less about outsourcing responsibility and more to do with
the financial pressure caused by having children. As money finances is the
factor used to separate the two groups.

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deogeo
Being childless and alone at 50-70 sounds like heaven. Old people hate being
visited by their grandchildren.

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mutt2016
Sounds like you are joking. Not all do. And a lot of seniors are getting laid
a lot.

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jcims
Some without knowing it unfortunately. My eldest child worked at a nursing
home and there were situations where lucid consent was not likely in one or
sometimes even both of the people involved.

