Jump to content

Happiest women: no kids


Recommended Posts

Google it. New research just came out.

 

I'd say their research makes a ton of sense, because, yes, children take a LOT of personal investment, sucking away at personal (selfish?) happiness.

 

Also guessing that age group is more the youngers who haven't reached "that age" yet, where they think "Gosh, what if I miss out on having a blessed event?"

 

So, yeah, life is happier enjoying and finding yourself. Kind of a no brainer.

 

Yet gives me hope for finding child free women. :)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Which goes to the discussion we had the other day about older single women being happy with the freedom they have in their lives. Ie; not getting desperate and settling.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites
Happy Lemming
the study said no kids AND no spouse

 

I'm one very happy male with no kids and no spouse, so maybe the study should be extended to include men...

Link to post
Share on other sites
I'm one very happy male with no kids and no spouse, so maybe the study should be extended to include men...

 

I agree HL...

Link to post
Share on other sites
I'm one very happy male with no kids and no spouse, so maybe the study should be extended to include men...

 

I agree HL...

 

 

They did.

 

"Interestingly, the opposite was true for men — meaning they seemed to get more of a benefit from marriage than women because, as Dolan explained, they “calmed down” after tying the knot.

“You take less risks, you earn more money at work and you live a little longer,” he said. “She, on the other hand, has to put up with that, and dies sooner than if she never married.”

Link to post
Share on other sites
Happy Lemming

...you live a little longer,” he said.

 

I'm OK dying a few years sooner... At least, I'll die with a smile on my face!!

Link to post
Share on other sites
Eternal Sunshine

This is something I have known for years.

 

 

Children and spouse to suck away your energy. If only others didn't give me such a hard time over it...

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
Scarlett.O'hara

Personally I would be very careful about trusting the credibility of research found on a Google search.

 

Besides every woman has a different temperament and situation in life. What makes one woman happy may not work for another, so I wouldn't assume one is better than the other.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

There's been all kinds of research that came to that same conclusion over the years.

 

Of course that's a numbers game. there's no one more unhappy than a woman who desperately wants to have a kid but can't. Of course someone who wants to have kids that bad and hasn't ever had one probably has an inflated sense of how happy it's going to make them.

 

I always kind of wondered if they would narrow it down a little bit on the research, they might find that the people who always wanted to have kids and have kids are just as happy as those who didn't want kids and don't have them, but that in the middle are an unbelievably huge number of people who just let life happen to them and ended up with kids and I just wonder if that's not the biggest pool of unhappiness. but people who just left life happened to them probably weren't that happy to begin with.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites
major_merrick

Happiest? Not me. Husband, kid, girlfriends....I'm happiest now.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • Author

im am wondering what the whole study used as criteria? I mean, OF COURSE, free twenty somethings, smiling and laughing, no cares in the world, free choice of hot guys throwing themselves at you around every corner, are going to measure HAPPY at 11 on a scale of 1 to 10, but what happens AFTER college? :D:D

 

you get a decent run of about 10 years at that, then got to learn how to MAKE your happiness, as it stops being shoved at you.

 

in retrospect, it seems kind of a weird study, maybe more like click bait than anything relevent.

Link to post
Share on other sites
stillafool
They did.

 

"Interestingly, the opposite was true for men — meaning they seemed to get more of a benefit from marriage than women because, as Dolan explained, they “calmed down” after tying the knot.

“You take less risks, you earn more money at work and you live a little longer,” he said. “She, on the other hand, has to put up with that, and dies sooner than if she never married.”

 

Yeah, I read somewhere some time ago that single women live longer than married women and that married men live longer than single men. It didn't say anything about children.

 

I've actually had mothers tell me how lucky I am to not have children. I do have a husband though.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
stillafool
im am wondering what the whole study used as criteria? I mean, OF COURSE, free twenty somethings, smiling and laughing, no cares in the world, free choice of hot guys throwing themselves at you around every corner, are going to measure HAPPY at 11 on a scale of 1 to 10, but what happens AFTER college? :D:D

 

you get a decent run of about 10 years at that, then got to learn how to MAKE your happiness, as it stops being shoved at you.

 

 

You are speaking as if a woman can't possibly be happy without kids. Not true of all women. I would say AFTER college is just when a young woman's life is just starting so no after college is way too soon to settle down to motherhood.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
GeorgiaPeach1

Well maybe you shouldn't have sex with a woman anymore. You wouldn't want to accidentally impregnate her and contribute to her lifelong unhappiness, would you?

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

some women are just not mother material, it is the minority but they exist

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites
major_merrick

And then there are women who think that they are not wife/mother material and then find out that they actually are. They end up wondering to themselves why they took so long to grow up.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites
some women are just not mother material...

Yet will end up as mothers anyway.

I guess that they are a pretty unhappy bunch...

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites
heartbrokenlady

There are an awful lot of people walking around who are poor parent material, me included, although I do have a child.

 

I've had partners my whole life (serial monogamy) but have never been the settling down type. Ironically, now I'm in my 50s and am too old for another partner, I think I'd like to be married. But that could well just be 'grass is greener'.

 

I've always been independent, didn't enjoy being a parent, and have always been more career orientated than home focused.

 

I like being able to go where I want and answering to no one. It can be a bit lonely but as an introvert, I like a lot of alone time.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
stillafool
And then there are women who think that they are not wife/mother material and then find out that they actually are. They end up wondering to themselves why they took so long to grow up.

 

I'm full grown and have never wanted kids.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I mean it kind of goes without saying that a young woman who is raising a couple of kids is probably not experiencing as much personal happiness as a young childfree woman. Picture a mom with one screaming kid on the potty while another kid is in the kitchen taking the juice out of the fridge and pouring it on the floor. At the very same time another childfree woman is sipping her morning coffee and planning her day off. Perhaps she'll go to the gym, then go shopping and meet her friends for lunch. I'd guess in that moment the childfree lady is a lot happier than the mom, yet most moms wouldn't change their mom status for anything in the world, because they love their kids to pieces and giving love and care to another can be emotionally rewarding as well.

 

Loving someone usually takes some sacrafice and work to reap the rewards. My kids are grown and gone and now I have a small flock of grandchildren that I adore. I get to play with them and love them and when I'm tired I get to say "okay, I'm going home now, bye" lol, it's the best. Now I'm responsible for my dog and he isn't always a walk in the park either. High energy little beast that I have to exercise everyday, can't be left alone for too many hours, has wrecked some of my stuff and gotten me in trouble with my neighbors. Has some minor health issues that have cost me a minor fortune in vet bills. I mean I guess we'd all be happier never having to care or be responsible for anyone but ourselves but then we'd all miss out on the joy of loving and being loved.

 

Not sure I understand why a mom would die sooner. I had my kids young. By the time I was forty they were adults. Am I still going to die sooner even though I've been childfree for years?

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Even married couples report a drop in happiness once they have kids. I don't think any sane person has kids because they think "they'll make them happy", they just have kids because they feel the desire to have kids. And equally so plenty of women don't feel any desire to have kids.

 

 

Aren't you the guy who made a thread insisting that every woman wants kids, and ignoring the many women who posted saying they don't? :confused: But hey, at least you found a survey that you're not ignoring now.

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites
Kitty Tantrum

Did this study do a breakdown on the rates of psychiatric drug use (for depression, anxiety, etc.) among these various groups of women?

 

 

I've seen this claim floating around all over the internet, but I've yet to see any hard data that comes close to supporting it. Did they control for ANYTHING in this study?

 

 

This reeks of social engineering.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...