PARENTS think their young children are happier than they are - but underestimate the happiness of their teenagers, a new study found.

Research shows mothers and fathers' views of their kid's happy feelings differ significantly from their offspring's assessment of their own.

It found 10 and 11-year-olds aren't as happy as mum and dad think - and 'grumpy' 15 and 16-year-old teens are actually happier than they appear.

Boffins attributed the discrepancies to an "egocentric bias" through which parents rely too heavily on their own feelings in assessing the happiness of the family unit.

The study was carried out by psychologists at Plymouth University and published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

Researchers say this latest study could provide valuable information that could improve parent-child relationships.

The study was conducted by Dr Belén López-Pérez, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Developmental and Social Psychology at Plymouth University, and Ellie Wilson, a recent graduate of the BSc (Hons) Psychology course.

They questioned a total of 357 children and adolescents from two different schools in Spain, along with their parents, and their happiness was assessed using a range of self-reporting measures and ratings.

The results showed that parents were inclined to score a child or adolescents' happiness closely in line with their own emotional feelings, whereas in fact there were notable differences.

Dr Lopez Perez said: "Studying informants' discrepancies and the relationship between parents' and children's self-reports on happiness is vital to determine whether parental report is valid.

"Being unable to read children's happiness appropriately may increase misunderstanding between parents and children/adolescents, which has been shown to have negative consequences for parent-child relationships.

"Furthermore, parents might not be able to provide the appropriate emotional support or attend to their children's needs accurately."