http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/10/30/study-first-two-kids-increase-happiness-third-not-so-much/?intcmp=obnetwork

Parents' happiness soars with their first child, but that increase is cut in half by their second, and there's only a negligible increase in happiness by the time the third comes along, a new study finds.

What's more, parents who are the most educated and who give birth at 35 to 49 years of age report the largest, longest-lasting spikes in happiness, while those who are 23 to 34 feel happier at first but quickly return to baseline or even slightly lower happiness levels.

Teens actually experience a decline in happiness that doesn't go above normal levels within the first year of birth, reports Smithsonian. "The fact that among older and better-educated parents, well-being increases with childbearing, but the young and less-educated parents have flat or even downward happiness trajectories, may explain why postponing fertility has become so common," one researcher tells the Daily Mail.

The study, published in the journal Demography, analyzed data submitted by more than 7,000 parents in the UK and Germany as part of the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Survey.

Researchers looked at how people reported their happiness levels alongside whether they were preparing for or recently had a baby. They did not, however, parse the effects of having multiples instead of singletons.

This article originally appeared on Newser: Study: Your 3rd Kid Doesn't Make You Happier

I am convinced that they sometimes just make this stuff up.

It is a lot of work to do a survey.  To get 7000 well thought replies you'd need to canvass 50,000 families at least because a lot of people are going to say no.  That is a huge undertaking requiring thousands upon thousands of man hours of work.  And it is hard work too, not the sort of thing that people who are responsible and competent would want to do.

Who actually ever checks that they really did get 7000 responses and audits these surveys?

Do they outsource it to contractors who might just make the answers up that the client wants to hear?  I am sure that happens.

I will admit that the fifth and sixth child don't bring you the same joy as the first in the sense that you've been there and done it, but each child as they grow up is unique.  One makes you happy because they are brilliant academically, one is really comical and entertaining, another is a brilliant sportsman and crushes the opposition with talent, another can whip you at chess.

The results don't jive with reality.

Anyway, perhaps it is a good thing.  Why would we want people too stupid to see that children can make you happy having more of them?  Stupid people who make their decisions as a result of shonky surveys will probably make lousy parents and sure as eggs is eggs, if you are a lousy parents your children are going to resent it and you'll probably feel you wasted your time and be miserable.

The attacks on large Families gets really rough and fierce when the parents and the
children are White.
The derogatory  and the insults are especially aimed at White Families with many
White children coming from the mass media.  And are amazing quiet when it comes to
non white large families. This trend is being encourage by the ruling elites in
all white majority countries.
Example, in an another generation. Sweden will be a majority third world non-
white nation. The rest of the White world in about 2050.
The Theory is that the demographic changes in the workforce will produce a worker
that will work cheap. Because of a lack of jobs, will not complain, and do what they
are told. Paid low wages and worked to death with no protection of a labor union.
This to produce among the elites more profits, and higher stock dividends.
The ruling elites are mostly Whites, and Jєωιѕн. Money, profits, control., wealth,
world's resources, and non stop wars is the name of the game.

As a person without children, I can confirm being childless does not increase happiness either.  

True story:  I am a widow, now 2 years this coming Nov.  tomorrow.  

I have several women in my neighborhood who are also widows, but Protestant in nature and as the world dictates  most of them have the perfect American family, a boy and a girl.  

Today they look at me with envy, why?  Because whenever I need help, I can always rely on one of my 4 strong sons to drop ever thing and come running.  Also my daughters are always at my side, while my neighbors with their perfect families have to hire help, when they need it .  They admit to me, their children are never available, except on few occasions.

Large families are God's gift.