Effect of children on life satisfaction of married people is positive and increasing with number of children

From the Journal of Happiness Studies:

We investigate the relationship between having children at home and life satisfaction. Contrary to much of the literature, our results are consistent with an effect of children on life satisfaction that is positive, large and increasing in the number of children.

The effect, however, is contingent on the individual’s characteristics. In particular, our findings are consistent with children making married people better off, while most unmarried individuals appear to be worse off with children.

An erratum was issued after the study was published which claimed that a coding mistake made the results invlid and the author requested a retraction:

"After correcting the problem, the main results of the paper no longer hold. The effect of children on life satisfaction of married individuals is small, often negative, and never statistically significant."

I appreciate the input of the commenter who took the time to point to this link.

References:
Children and Life Satisfaction. Luis Angeles. Journal of Happiness Studies. 10.1007/s10902-009-9168-z, 10/2009.
Erratum to: Children and Life Satisfaction. Luis Angeles. Journal of Happiness Studies, March 12, 2010.

Experienced happiness is largely set by personality, it will temporarily respond to changing circumstances. The Lancet, 2010. http://goo.gl/ot3Kx
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