Happiness is… overtime?

Americans still don’t know how to sit back and relax, according to a new study published in the Journal of Happiness Studies. The findings reveal that Americans experience a very slight increase in happiness from working longer hours, while Europeans are happier with more leisure time.

While the researchers cannot say for certain whether work causes happiness or unhappiness, they do hypothesize that the association is related to how an individual measures success.

The study used surveys of European and American attitudes, finding the likelihood of Europeans describing themselves as “very happy” decreased from 28 percent to 23 percent as work hours increased. Meanwhile, Americans’ happiness stayed relatively consistent, with a 43 percent chance of describing themselves as happy regardless of the amount of hours spent working, LiveScience reports.

To read more about the study, click here.

Jon Entine’s Crop Chemophobia comes “highly recommended”

Crop Chemophobia: Will Precaution Kill the Green Revolution?, the new book from STATS fellow Jon Entine, is “highly recommended” by the Midwest Book Review:

Pesticides and preservatives can be dangerous in excessive quality, but is the world’s growing phobia putting it at odds with the benefits they bring? “Crop Chemophobia: Will Precaution Kill the Green Revolution?” outlines the concern with modern farming about the paranoia surrounding food safety and how too much regulation of chemicals could lead to unforeseen problems in the future of the world’s food supply. Arguing for more consistent testing of pesticides and their effects on food, stating that some are banned when they pass the test clearly, “Crop Chemophobia” provides quite the insight on this major issue, highly recommended.

Crop Chemophobia can be purchased here.

Recession hits baby manufacturing

According to a new study by the National Center for Health Statistics, births in the United States fell 4 percent from 2007 to 2009. This is the most significant drop for any two year period in more than thirty years.

Using data from U.S. vital statistics natality files, the rate for women between the ages of 15 to 44 was 66.7 births per 1,000 women. The study authors say that preliminary data shows the birth rate continued to fall through June of 2010.

The one exception was for women over the age of 40, which saw a 6 percent increase in birth rate from 2007 to 2009.

According to the Associated Press, the 20 to 24 age bracket experienced a record low with birth rates decreasing by nine percent (96.3 births per 1,000 women).The study also revealed that the birth rate decline was more significant for second and third children (6 percent) than for the first child (3 percent).

For more findings and figures, visit the study’s data brief.