Is having a child the path to ultimate fulfillment, or a harrowing journey of worry, exhaustion and chaos? Or is it, as we might expect, somewhere in between?

Curiosity contributor Diana Bocco dug up the facts on childbearing and happiness, and she gives her interpretation in the following answer.

Extensive academic research has shown that couples that have children are either equally or less happy than childless couples. In fact, children are one of the top reasons for marital dissatisfaction [source: Senior]. Studies have also shown that parents are more likely to be depressed, suffer from stress and anxiety and experience more dissatisfaction with their life in general. And it appears to be somewhat cumulative: The more children a couple has, the higher the level of discontent.

Part of the reason having children diminishes happiness is that parents instinctively worry about their children, which in turn causes stress and anxiety. Parents often have unreasonable expectations about parenthood, partially because of the widespread belief that having children is an important component of happiness. This means expecting parents are more likely to be in a state of joy, since they have happy expectations of what's to come. Once the baby is born and reality sets in, things can change [source: Powdthavee]. In fact, in a study by Nobel Prize-winning behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman, women rated childcare as less pleasurable than a number of other everyday tasks, including housework [source: Senior].

This doesn't necessarily mean that having children will make you unhappy all the time. Obviously children can be a source of joy -- at least part of the time. And experts believe having children helps fulfill one of our fundamental human needs: reproduction. Unfortunately, however, having children can also -- at least temporarily -- deprive us of other fundamental human needs. According to a study by Douglas T. Kenrick, professor of Psychology at Arizona State University, parenthood can compromise physiological contentment, meaning you're not always meeting your needs for rest and sleep. Parenthood can also make finding and keeping a long-term mate difficult, and it can affect parents' status or esteem -- particularly for moms. For example, studies show women with children earn less than childless women [source: Lyubomirsky].

Those who argue children are always a blessing focus on the fact that it's hard to measure happiness. It's also possible that joy is more fleeting in parents than in childless people, meaning parents are more likely to experience great moments of joy followed by moments of stress or dissatisfaction. This doesn't make the joyful moments any less valuable. It just makes them rarer.