The studies do show that having children is inversely related to happiness
I haven’t seen the relevant studies, so I don’t know if this has already been accounted for, but it strikes me that since most people do have children at some point, there are probably some distinct psychological differences on average between people who do and don’t have children.
It’s like the studies that show that people who occasionally drink alcohol in moderation tend to live longer than those who don’t drink at all; one might conclude that moderate alcohol consumption is healthy, but since adults who don’t drink alcohol at all are exceptional, you’d want to look for other relevant ways non-drinkers tend to deviate from the norm.
I haven’t seen the relevant studies, so I don’t know if this has already been accounted for, but it strikes me that since most people do have children at some point, there are probably some distinct psychological differences on average between people who do and don’t have children.
It’s like the studies that show that people who occasionally drink alcohol in moderation tend to live longer than those who don’t drink at all; one might conclude that moderate alcohol consumption is healthy, but since adults who don’t drink alcohol at all are exceptional, you’d want to look for other relevant ways non-drinkers tend to deviate from the norm.