Parents all know that children make it harder to do some of the most enjoyable adult things. Bluntly put, kids can get between you.

Now scientists have attached some numbers to the situation.

An eight-year study of 218 couples found 90 percent experienced a decrease in marital satisfaction once the first child was born.

"Couples who do not have children also show diminished marital quality over time," says Scott Stanley, research professor of psychology at University of Denver. "However, having a baby accelerates the deterioration, especially seen during periods of adjustment right after the birth of a child."

An unrelated study in 2006 of 13,000 people found parents are more depressed than non-parents. Scientists speculate that the problem is partly a modern one, because parents don't get as much help at home as they did in previous generations.

There are key variables to note in the new study.

Couples who lived together before marriage experienced more problems after the birth of a child than those who lived separately before marriage, as did those whose parents fought or divorced.

However, some couples said their relationships were stronger post-birth. They tended to have been married longer or had higher incomes.

Children don't ruin everything, Stanley points out.

"There are different types of happiness in life and that while some luster may be off marital happiness for at least a time during this period of life, there is a whole dimension of family happiness and contentment based on the family that couples are building," he said. "This type of happiness can be powerful and positive but it has not been the focus of research."

研究：没孩子的夫妻 婚姻幸福更长久 (2009-04-18)

当了爹妈的人都知道，做那些那些成人最喜欢做的事情会因为小孩的存在而变得困难。说得直接点，孩子会妨碍到你们。

科学家们用数字说明了这个情况。

一项对218对夫妻持续8年的研究发现，90%的夫妻在第一个孩子出生之后，对婚姻的满意度出现下降。

"那些没孩子的夫妻，婚姻质量也会随着时间而下降，"丹佛大学的心理学教授Scott Stanley说，"不过生小孩加速了下滑速度，尤其是在第一个孩子刚出生后的适应阶段。"

另一项在2006年对13000对夫妻进行的调查发现，那些当父母的比没当父母的人更抑郁。科学家推测，这个问题在一定程度上是个现代问题，因为现在的父母从从家里得到的帮助比以前几代人要少。

在这项新研究中，有一个关键因素值得注意。

那些在结婚之前就住在一起的夫妻，在孩子出生之后更容易出现问题。那些自己的父母就经常争吵或者离婚的夫妻，他们的情况也是这样。

不过，有些夫妻说他们的关系在孩子出生之后反而更加坚固。这些人往往是结婚时间较久或者收入较高的。

Stanley也指出，孩子并不会毁了所有美好。

"生活中有不同的乐趣，虽然婚姻幸福中有些光芒可能会至少在生命的这个阶段在中暗淡，不过夫妻两个共同所创建的家庭、其幸福和稳定也是一个很大的方面。"他说道，"这种的快乐也可能是很有力而且积极的，不过这并不是这项研究的重点。"
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