Formula for Happiness

There may not be a magic formula for happiness, but Hans-Peter Kohler and Jere Behrman know a few equations that lay out parameters for mothers and fathers, wives and husbands. Kohler, an associate professor of sociology, and Behrman, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Economics, along with a research scientist with the Danish Institute of Public Health, reported their findings in “Partner + Children = Happiness?”  Simply correlating parenthood or partnership with happiness doesn’t take into account the possibility that happiness might be a genetic or personality trait or that people with happy dispositions may be more likely to get married and have kids in the first place or to be pleased with their choices. To control for those and other variables, the researchers tapped the Danish Twin Registry and surveyed almost 35,000 twins on their sense of well-being.  Their analysis showed that marriage and children do have “appreciable persistent effects on happiness.”  Individuals with partners reported greater happiness than those who are alone, with men deriving greater happiness from partnerships than women.  Children directly contribute to the happiness of women.  Having a first child is an important source of happiness for both partners, but subsequent children make women less happy and don’t much affect the well being of men. The greatest happiness for the greatest number, Kohler and Behrman’s study seems to suggest, is to marry and to have one child.