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London: Move over dads!
A happy mother makes a greater contribution to her child's overall
happiness than the father, a study suggests.
In a survey of 6,441 women, 5,384 men and 1,268 children aged
between 10 and 15 years, from 40,000 households, 60 percent of young
say they are 'completely satisfied' with their family situation.
But in families where the child's mother is unhappy in her
partnership, only 55 percent of them admit being 'completely happy.'
Professor John Ermisch, Maria Iacovou, and Alexandra Skew from the
Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), found that the
happiest children are those living with two parents - either
biological or step - with no younger siblings.
They do not quarrel with their parents regularly and eat at least
three evening meals per week with their family, according to an ISER
statement.
Iacovou added: "At a time when there is widespread political concern
about 'Broken Britain', these findings show that family
relationships and the happiness of parents are key to the happiness
of young people.
"Contrary to the popular belief that children only want to spend
time playing videogames or watching TV, we found that they were most
happy when interacting with their parents or siblings."
The research also finds that having older siblings is not related to
children's happiness with their family, but having younger siblings
in the household is associated with lower levels of satisfaction.
The younger the siblings, the greater the effect, the study said.
But relationships with parents are even more important than
relationships with siblings. Only 28 percent of children who quarrel
more than once a week with their parents, and do not discuss
important matters with them, are completely happy with their
families.
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