Consumers who choose not to have children still find life satisfaction ─Study

*Researchers found that the decision of whether to have kids is not likely to impact consumers’ overall happiness

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Researchers from Michigan State University, in the United States (US), in fresh study discovered that not becoming a parent may not impact consumers’ life satisfaction.

The study team reported that one-quarter of adults in Michigan do not want to have children, and this group experienced similar levels of happiness and satisfaction as those who had children.

Researcher Jennifer Watling Neal said: “Most studies haven’t asked the questions necessary to distinguish ‘child-free’ individuals ─ those who choose not to have children ─ from other types of nonparents.

“Non-parents can also include the ‘not-yet-parents’ who are planning to have kids, and ‘childless’ people who couldn’t have kids due to infertility or circumstance.”

In investigating how children do impact happiness for the study, the researchers wanted to identify the difference between adults that did not plan on having children versus those who were considered non-parents.

The team then analysed responses from more than 1,000 adults who participated in the Michigan State University State of the State Survey.

The group answered questions about their personalities, general life satisfaction, and political ideology.

The researchers were surprised to learn, that one-quarter of the participants identified as child-free and did not have intentions of having children.

However, this choice did not affect their overall happiness or life satisfaction, agency report said.

Zachary Neal, one of the researchers, stated: “After controlling for demographic characteristics, we found no difference in life satisfaction and limited differences in personality traits between child-free individuals and parents, not-yet parents, or childless individuals.”

In terms of personality, the study indicated that parents and non-parents were not too different; however, the researchers learned that there was a divide between the groups.

The study found that parents did not have great attitudes about those without kids, whereas non-parents were much kinder to each other.

The researchers noted another big difference was in political leanings. The majority of non-parents reported having more liberal preferences than participants with kids.

The researchers believe that this particular finding can have important implications in future elections.

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