Talk to your father to be happy

Wanna know how to be happy? Just talk to your dad, says a study. Researchers have found that children who regularly talk to their fathers are happier than those who do not.

Father

Do you want to know the secret to happiness? Well, kids, just talk to your dad, says a study.

Researchers at the University of York have found that children who regularly talk to their fathers are happier than those who do not -- the findings are based on an analysis of the British Household Panel survey into 1,200 young people all aged between 11 and 15 years.

Young people who said they talked seriously to their dads "most days" gave themselves an 87 per cent score on a happiness scale compared with 79 per cent for those who said they hardly ever spoke to their fathers in this way.

Nearly half of young people -- 46 per cent -- said that they "hardly ever" spoke to their fathers about important topics compared with 28 per cent who hardly ever spoke to their mothers about the things that matter most.

The study, commissioned by Children's Society, showed that young people talk less to their fathers about important issues as they get older. The data showed 42 per cent of 11-year-olds did so more than once a week compared with 16 per cent of 15-year-olds.

The analysis suggested there has been little change over the years with the same proportion -- 30 per cent -- of young people talking to their fathers about something that mattered to them more than once a week in 2007-08 as in 2002-03.