The Politics of Happiness: Conservatives vs. Liberals; Are parents happier?

Over the past few years, happiness research has attracted the interest of experts from many fields, the most interesting of which might be the statisticians/economists. Arthur Brooks, a top scholar of economics and public policy, tackles the question of "what makes us happy" in his new book "Gross National Happiness" by using reams of data and in the process comes up with some surprising and interesting conclusions. Among them:

Parents are happier than non-parents, yet when researchers ask parents what they enjoy, looking after their kids is very, very far down the list--well after eating, shopping, exercising, cooking, praying, and even watching TV. Brooks argues that the paradox of parents being happier yet not enjoying the primary task of being a parent (that is looking after one's children) can be explained by noting that while irritating in the short-term, children can bring meaning to life in the long-term. Another factor is that happy people are more likely to have children (note the issue of causation versus correlation).

Conservatives are happier than liberals. Self-described conservatives have been found to classify themselves as "very happy" nearly twice as often as those who call themselves "liberal" or "very liberal". This is not a new trend and has been true for at least the past 35 years. Interestingly this is not because of income differences between the groups (which have been isolated in the study), instead Brooks believes it is because: a) Conservatives are twice as likely to be married; b) Twice as likely to attend church; and c) More likely to have children. Brooks believes that, putting merits aside, the conservative viewpoint is more conducive to happiness than a liberal viewpoint. "Conservatives tend to believe that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can succeed. this makes them more optimistic than liberal, more likely to feel in control of their lives and therefore happier. American liberals, at their most pessimistic, stress the injustice of the economic system, the crushing impersonal forces that keep the little guy down."

Extremists (liberal or conservative) are happier than moderates. In short, those with extreme political viewpoints are more likely to be happy, and Brooks believes this is because "they are certain that they are right." (Of course this is measuring personal happiness, no one would argue that being around extremists--particularly those with a different viewpoint--brings much happiness.)

It is important to note that statisticians draw conclusions over "populations" (that is groups with typically large numbers of members) and things that apply to such populations don't necessarily apply to all of the members of that group. For example, while married people may score higher on happiness tests, there are of course very unhappy married people and very happy single people. The point of happiness research is to peel away the factors that influence happiness as opposed to establish a set road map that will work for everyone. LifeTwo has had a very active discussion group called Midlife and always single" and the over-riding sentiment is that for this group of people, being single is their preferred path to maximizing happiness. There are many paths to happiness and the key is to find the one that works best for you as an individual.

Amazon link: Gross National Happiness

Source: The Economist (may require fee)

Additional Note: We created a week of "How to be Happy" posts with extensive information and exercises. If you are interested in finding your best path to happiness you may want to check these out.