A Note on Family Situation and Global Happiness

Recent evidence from one U.S. national survey (the Quality of Life Survey) indicates that being married very likely contributes, in the aggregate, to the psychological well-being of both men and women but that the presence of children may tend to lower the satisfaction of both sexes (Campbell; Campbell et al.).' The evidence on marital status and psychological wellbeing is corroborated by data from several other studies (e.g., Bradburn; Bradburn and Caplovitz; Glenn, a; Gurin, Veroff, and Feld; Knupfer et al.) and thus a zero-order association of being married with feelings of wellbeing in the United States in the recent past is hardly in doubt. There is no conclusive evidence that the relationship is not spurious, but Glenn (a) argues on the basis of data for different age levels that it is quite improbable that the relationship results entirely from selection of superior, more adaptable persons for marriage. The evidence from the Quality of Life Survey for negative effects of presence of children is much more tenuous than the evidence for the effects of marriage. Weak estimated effects in the data from one survey may well result from sampling error; and Campbell et al. base most of their discussion on zero-order relationships and report little analysis conducted to test for spuriousness. Furthermore, other evidence on the topic is inconsistent. Although the findings of several studies suggest a negative effect of children on marital happiness or satisfaction (e.g., Feldman; LeMasters; Renne), there could be typical gratifications from parenthood which offset any negative effects on global happiness through quality of marriage. Studies of the effects of the last child's leaving home on the psychological well-being of parents consistently fail to provide evidence of large typical negative effects (see Axelson; Clausen; Deutscher; Glenn, b), but most of the studies also fail to indicate substantial positive effects. The ambitious