Another study found that overall, people who have kids report being happier and more satisfied, and thinking more about meaning in life than non-parents do. Parents also reported more positive emotional experiences and meaning from moment to moment.
Research shows that there is a “happiness bump” that parents experience right after a baby is born. But that tends to dissipate over the course of a year, Glass says. After that point in time, the levels of happiness of parents and non-parents gradually diverge, with non-parents generally growing happier over time.
Happiness takes a dip in adolescence, and on average we are happier at 25 than we are at 18 [source: United Press International]. Measuring happiness depends greatly on self-assessments for adults, and in children -- especially young children -- parents' assessments of their children's happiness are also factored in.
Sometimes people regret not having children because they believe that having a child would somehow make them feel complete. But, it's important to let go of this idea of completeness. Believing that a child will make you or your life feel complete is not a healthy expectation.
Not having children also comes with significant positive health benefits. A 116-year study by the American Journal of Human Biology found the following trends. Longer lifespan. Women with children lost an incredible 95 weeks of life per child carried.
The numbers say yes, but the reasons are not yet understood. There somehow seems to be a link between people's life expectancy and the number of children they have: People with children generally live longer than those without. Parents with two children even have a small longevity bonus added to their lifespan.
Experts say the best time to get pregnant is between your late 20s and early 30s. This age range is associated with the best outcomes for both you and your baby. One study pinpointed the ideal age to give birth to a first child as 30.5.
First, we asked respondents how often they think parents regret having children. A little over one-quarter (28%) of U.S. adults say they think parents very often or somewhat often regret having children, while 53% say they think parents regret their decision not very often or not often at all.
You won't find many people wringing their hands over the woes, real or imagined, of men who choose not to have children. But men are just as likely as women to regret not having kids, and new evidence suggests men without children may feel more isolated, depressed and even angry than childless women.
Why experts agree authoritative parenting is the most effective style. Studies have found that authoritative parents are more likely to raise confident kids who achieve academic success, have better social skills and are more capable at problem-solving.
According to a study out of Australia's Edith Cowan University, parents with the most life satisfaction (which means those who are the happiest) are those that have four or more children.
"The survey finds that the majority of respondents believe that two children is the 'ideal' number for family happiness, but the majority of respondents also have two children.
The numbers are in: according to a new study, 66 percent of divorced couples are childless, while about 40 percent have children together. But while researchers are sure that childless couples are more likely to divorce, they disagree on the reasons why.
In terms of happiness, a compelling argument for having an only child comes from science that strongly indicates that mothers with one child are happiest.
Children change our lives. They make them a little more hectic and busy and complicated. But more importantly, they make our lives better in more ways than you can count. So yes, your life is going to change, but it's going to change in the best way possible.
Research shows that having more children can actually protect women against multiple health woes, such as certain types of cancer and possibly even dementia.
Natural childbirth benefits babies in their gut: In the long run, babies born through a caesarean section are more prone to asthma, allergies and infections. Without natural birth the babies miss out on the good bacteria present in the mother's body. This plays a major role in the immune system of the child.
It's no wonder then that research finds that the hardest years of parenting are the tween, (or middle school if you're in the USA) years. They may be less physically exhausting than the early years, but emotionally they are so much more exhausting.
Forget the terrible twos and prepare for the hateful eights ‒ parents have named age 8 as the most difficult age to parent, according to new research.
Among childless adults who say they have some other reason for thinking they won't have kids in the future, no single reason stands out. About two-in-ten (19%) say it's due to medical reasons, 17% say it's for financial reasons and 15% say it's because they do not have a partner.
Ages 31 to 35
In your early 30s, the chances you'll be able to have a baby are still high. You still have a lot of high-quality eggs to offer, but your odds will start to decline steadily at this age. Your fecundity rate decreases gradually until age 32. At 37, it drops dramatically.
Geriatric pregnancy is a rarely used term for having a baby when you're 35 or older. Rest assured, most healthy women who get pregnant after age 35 and even into their 40s have healthy babies.
But a statistical study of centenarians by researchers at the University of Chicago has found some other potential predictors of extreme longevity. Women and men who were the first born in large families, the study found, were two to three times more likely to make it to 100 than later-born children.
Women whose mothers live up to the age of 90 are more likely to have increased lifespan, without suffering from any serious illnesses like cancer, diabetes, or heart disease, a study has found.