The joys of parenting are not for everyone, according to new research findings that show childfree people are equally satisfied with their lives as those with children. The study defines "childfree" individuals as those who intentionally decide not to have children, as opposed to parents, those who plan to have children, and childless people who would have liked to have children. The distinction between childfree people and other non-parents makes this study unique among similar studies. In addition to gauging life satisfaction, the study sought to estimate the prevalence of childfree people and looked for differences in political ideology and personality between childfree people, parents, and other types of non-parents. The researchers also studied how the different groups feel about each other, to determine if childfree people are viewed as an outgroup. Readers can scroll the full text of the article or use the links on the left side to skip to a certain section. In the Results section, the Population and Sample Characteristics subsection discusses the prevalence and demographic characteristics of childfree people in Michigan, where the study took place. The Discussion section provides the researchers' interpretation of the results and further thoughts on the study. The authors of the study are psychologists Dr. Jennifer Watling Neal and Dr. Zachary P. Neal of Michigan State University. The study was supported by a Michigan Applied Public Policy Research grant from the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and by a Departmental Collaborative Grant from the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University.