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Happiness: before and after the kids
Mikko Myrskylä1, Rachel Margolis
1Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK, M.Myrskyla@lse.ac.uk.
Demography
|August 22, 2014
Summary
Having children up to two increases parental happiness, especially for those delaying childbirth. This finding offers new insights into fertility trends and parental well-being.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Demography
- Psychology
Background:
- Parental subjective well-being is a key factor influencing fertility decisions.
- Understanding happiness trajectories around childbirth is crucial for explaining fertility behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze parental happiness changes before and after childbirth.
- To investigate how sociodemographic factors impact these happiness trajectories.
- To provide insights into low and late fertility patterns.
Main Methods:
- Utilized large-scale British and German longitudinal datasets.
- Employed fixed-effects models to control for unobserved parental characteristics.
- Examined happiness trends across different birth orders and sociodemographic groups.
Main Results:
- Parental happiness increases around the birth of a first child, then returns to pre-birth levels.
- Happiness rises pre-birth, indicating the broader childbearing process influences well-being.
- Having a first or second child boosts happiness, but a third child does not.
- Older parents and those with higher education show a more positive happiness response to a first birth.
Conclusions:
- Having up to two children enhances parental happiness, particularly for individuals who postpone childbearing.
- The findings align with fertility patterns observed during the second demographic transition.
- This research offers novel perspectives on low and late fertility behaviors.
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