{"title":"Finding happiness: Young children recognize that goals shape happiness in the face of simple preferences.","authors":"Lingyan Hu, Douglas A Frye, Fan Yang","doi":"10.1093/chidev/aacag180","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>What does happiness mean to children? While it may seem obvious that fulfilling desires and preferences matters, they often conflict with personal goals. Three preregistered studies with U.S. 4- to 9-year-olds (N = 307; 54% female; 59% White; tested in 2023-2025) found that in conflict situations, children considered goals both when attributing happiness (Studies 1 and 2) and evaluating happiness beliefs (Study 3) (ds = 0.36-1.49). The effect of goals went beyond simpler forms of inner conflict (Study 2), and children's goal-oriented responses predicted healthier food choices (Studies 2 and 3). These findings suggest that even young children view goal fulfillment as a meaningful source of happiness, offering insights into how to foster a happy childhood.</p>","PeriodicalId":10109,"journal":{"name":"Child development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Child development","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag180","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
What does happiness mean to children? While it may seem obvious that fulfilling desires and preferences matters, they often conflict with personal goals. Three preregistered studies with U.S. 4- to 9-year-olds (N = 307; 54% female; 59% White; tested in 2023-2025) found that in conflict situations, children considered goals both when attributing happiness (Studies 1 and 2) and evaluating happiness beliefs (Study 3) (ds = 0.36-1.49). The effect of goals went beyond simpler forms of inner conflict (Study 2), and children's goal-oriented responses predicted healthier food choices (Studies 2 and 3). These findings suggest that even young children view goal fulfillment as a meaningful source of happiness, offering insights into how to foster a happy childhood.
期刊介绍：
As the flagship journal of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Child Development has published articles, essays, reviews, and tutorials on various topics in the field of child development since 1930. Spanning many disciplines, the journal provides the latest research, not only for researchers and theoreticians, but also for child psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychiatric social workers, specialists in early childhood education, educational psychologists, special education teachers, and other researchers. In addition to six issues per year of Child Development, subscribers to the journal also receive a full subscription to Child Development Perspectives and Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development.
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