Go to From The Observation Deck
- Add a comment
- Go to A life of happiness or unhappiness? Apparently children AREN'T a factor!
Re: Re: Re:
It is indeed, kabu! I have read about several such studies, and most of them do seem like a huge waste of money . . . 
posted by
JimmyA
on February 25, 2014 at 6:57 AM
| link to this | reply
Re: Re:
I think that some people get a grant and then have to use it...waste of our money of course.
posted by
Kabu
on February 24, 2014 at 8:25 PM
| link to this | reply
Re:
And therein lies the rub, Against, when it comes to most of these types of studies. There are always dozens of variables that are almost impossible to take into account for every individual. Even though my main reason for dismissing this particular study was because I don't have any children, I've still found it increasingly difficult to give any credence to almost any of these studies because of the many variables involved . . . 
posted by
JimmyA
on February 24, 2014 at 7:35 AM
| link to this | reply
Re:
Unfortunately, Utah, both children and grandchildren are something that I can't relate to at all. However, the bottom-line to this particular study seems to be that, whether you have children or not, sometimes there's happiness, and sometimes there's sorrow. And if that was the conclusion for this particular study, then it was indeed a complete waste of time . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 24, 2014 at 7:30 AM
| link to this | reply
In these type of sociological studies, there is always a lot of dynamics to take into account. Take, for example, some studies that would suggest that unmarried men do not live as long as married men. Could there not be a factor here that these men die shortly after their retirement begins, from lack of purpose? Do they have more purpose if they are married? Likely they are, but the researchers need to control for this precisely.
posted by
Against4WindsOn2Flam
on February 23, 2014 at 9:16 PM
| link to this | reply
Well I don't know about the study, so many of these things are swayed to the point of uselessness that I quit reading them. What I can say, is that it was the children we have that helped make our marriage so successful and happy (going on 31 years now and even less arguments) but in the same breath, if I was to do it all over again, I would start with grandchildren.
posted by
UtahJay
on February 23, 2014 at 12:49 PM
| link to this | reply
Re:
More than likely, adnohr. It reminded me of another one I had heard about not too long ago. Some state was given a certain amount of grant money ( probably in the millions ) and then went ahead and spent something like $15,000 of it to study why inmates wanted to break out of prison! And any one of us could have told them whatever they needed to know for nothing! I don't know sometimes . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 23, 2014 at 9:50 AM
| link to this | reply
Re: Jimmy
Understandable, Naut. Suffice it to say we are probably on the same page, at least as far as giving this particular 'study' any credence. To me, it basically states: "Sometimes we're happy, sometimes we're unhappy. Sometimes it has to do with the kids, and sometimes it has nothing to do with the kids." I hope they didn't waste a bunch of grant money on this, because I could have told them that for free . . . 
posted by
JimmyA
on February 23, 2014 at 9:47 AM
| link to this | reply
Re:
I never looked at it that way, Kabu, but you're probably right. I think everyone has their own way of deciding their own happiness, whether they have children ( or grandchildren ) or not. I'm just not entirely sure what this particular study was trying to prove . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 23, 2014 at 9:44 AM
| link to this | reply
Re:
And that says it all, FSI. Some of these 'studies' seem to be off the mark a bit. Or at the very least, misdirected. That's why I said, I don't think this particular study proved or showed anything . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on February 23, 2014 at 9:41 AM
| link to this | reply
I agree. That was not research, more like a waste of time. Probably another government funded farce....
posted by
adnohr
on February 22, 2014 at 6:53 PM
| link to this | reply
Jimmy
I’ll paraphrase the great physicist Wolfgang Pauli and say, ‘This is not even bad!’ That ‘research’ is such a pointless crock of sh*t that it makes my eyes glaze over, and I shall not dignify it with a serious response...
posted by
Nautikos
on February 21, 2014 at 6:07 PM
| link to this | reply
I sort of agree with you...what a waste of time...and they don't need to do one on Grandparents either. So long as we can hand 'em back we are all happy people.
posted by
Kabu
on February 21, 2014 at 4:49 PM
| link to this | reply
Like you, I am a non-parent as well and feel, too, that being a parent or not being a parent factored one way or another into one's happiness. Indeed, there are a myraid of factors that determines one's happiness.
Also, like you, I feel that it would be worthwhile for a study to be conducted of why some parents no longer do the things that parents need to do.
posted by
FormerStudentIntern
on February 21, 2014 at 12:11 PM
| link to this | reply