General Social Surveys data for 1980 and 1982-86 were used in this study of the marital happiness of black husbands and wives who resided with their spouses. The dependent variable was marital happiness; independent variables of greatest interest concerned parenting. The study was designed to provide detailed information on relationships between demographic, situational, and interactional variables and marital happiness among recent national probability samples of black husbands and wives. Although the study focused on parental variables, several potentially confounding variables were also investigated. Findings indicated that the presence of minor children at home was significantly related to parents' marital happiness. However, the relationship was complex and involved the ages and numbers of the children. Sex of parent was an important variable, with mothers more negatively affected than fathers, by numbers and ages of children in the home. Husbands were happiest with their marriages in families with preschool or teenage children, while wives were happiest with few or no minor children, or with preschool children. Additional variables such as income, age, education, health, frequency of church attendance, spouse's education, number of children born, and number of persons in the household were also investigated for their relationship to marital happiness. Forty references are included. (RH)