This paper reviews and compares folk theories and empirical evidence about the influence of parenthood on happiness and life satisfaction. The review of attitudes toward parenthood and childlessness reveals that people tend to believe that parenthood is central to a meaningful and fulfilling life, and that the lives of childless people are…

This study focuses on one of the most significant recent innovations in the conceptualization and measurement of religiousness and spirituality, the Daily Spiritual Experience scale (DSES; Underwood (2006) "Archive for the Psychology of Religion/Archiv fur Religion Psychologie," 28, 181-218). Using data from 1998 and 2004 NORC General…

Where data exist, measures of average happiness in industrialized countries typically show little or no upward trend over time, despite substantial growth in real per capita incomes. This paper examines the existing Canadian data to see if they support this generalization. The Canadian data have some overall positive trend. Some simple regressions…