Have you ever wondered which families are the happiest? We all strive to maintain a spirit of happiness and contentment in our family domain, but does this rely on the number of children we have in our families?
Bronwyn Harman of Edith Cowan University conducted a study which interviewed hundreds of parents in different family set-ups to try and answer which families are the happiest? Participants in the study had to answer a questionnaire and Dr Harman ranked the different groups based on the answers.
The five year study found parents with large families of 4 or more children are the happiest. Next in line (and only marginally) were same sex parents, older mothers and families living in rural areas. Step-parents were next, followed by parents with disabled children.
Single dads find it hard to be happy as they often feel left out of their children’s lives. Single mums came in second last on the list as being happy.
Dr Harman’s study took into account the resilience, social support and self-esteem measures that contribute to parents’ happiness.
It was found same-sex parents were the most resilient and had the highest self-esteem and greatest social support when it came to family happiness. Dr Harman explained, “They have to go to a lot of effort to get these children, so these children are very, very much desired. Often when same-sex parents do have a child they feel like they’ve hit the jackpot because they didn’t think it was going to be possible because of their sexuality.”
Parents with four or more children embrace the chaos rather than complain about it. In the questionnaire these parents did admit they didn’t enjoy dealing with the judgement from society and the comments like ‘are they all yours?’ or ‘do they all have the same father?’ or the classic ‘don’t you know what causes it yet?’ Everyone knows their place in a large family and the children are taught responsibility at a young age. The siblings support each other and they are rarely bored as they have someone to play with.
It was interesting the range of issues that single fathers brought up that contributed to their happiness as a parent. They would often be left out of family gatherings or judged that they were the cause of their family to separate in the first place. Despite the difficulties, many single dads have a great relationship with their adult children.
The study revealed how many different family scenarios are part of our community and government services should be updated to take into account these family situations.
“We need to remember that different groups of parents have different needs to contribute to their life satisfaction,” Dr Harman explained.
“It would be much better if we were able to separate the needs of different families and tailor services towards those individual cohorts.”
What is your family situation and are you happy with it? What is your ideal family size or what size family would make you happy?
