MEN HAPPIER
Last year, a team of researchers added a novel twist to something known as a time-use survey. Instead of simply asking people what they had done over the course of their day, as pollsters have been doing since the 1960s, the researchers also asked how people felt during each activity. Were they happy? Interested? Tired? Stressed? Men enjoy being with their parents, while women find time with their mom and dad to be slightly less pleasant than doing laundry. In the early '70s, women reported being slightly happier than men. Today, the two have switched places. Since the '60s, men have gradually cut back on activities they find unpleasant. They now work less and relax more. Over the same span, women have replaced housework with paid work and are spending more time doing things they don't enjoy. Women now have a much longer to-do list than they once did. (NY Times 9/26/07)