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Podcasts Take Two
Does having kids really make you happier?
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May 13, 2014
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Does having kids really make you happier?
Decades of research has found that parents are less happy than non-parents. But a new study finds that parents are becoming happier over time.
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - MAY 13:  Children walk alongside an adult on May 13, 2014 in Auckland, New Zealand. Finance Minister Bill English will deliver the federal budget on Thursday and is expected to announce a surplus and approximately $NZD 1 billion in new spending. Parents may benefit from extra paid parental leave, which has been tipped for inclusion in the 2014 budget announcement. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)
A family in New Zealand. A new study finds that parents are more happy than non-parents.
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Fiona Goodall/Getty Images
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Decades of research has found that parents are less happy than non-parents. But a new study finds that parents are becoming happier over time.

Over the past few decades, much of the research on parents and happiness has found that parents are worse off than non-parents. That they're less happy, and more depressed and anxious, than their childless counterparts.

But a new study finds that parents today are actually happier compared to non-parents. John Ifcher, an economics professor at Santa Clara University, joins the show to explain why.