In a new paper published in the April 2014 edition of the Journal of Marriage and Family, economist Matthias Pollman-Schult presents an explanation for previous empirical findings about the effects of children on subjective well-being. As the author points out, prior literature has found that parents are no happier or even less happy than non-parents. In this paper, the author uses data from the German Socio-Economic Panel to test the hypothesis that satisfaction-enhancing effects of children exist, but are offset by the economic and time costs of parenthood. His findings confirm the hypothesis. Specifically, the three key findings from the study are as follows: (a) parenthood by itself has substantial and enduring positive effects on life satisfaction; (b) these positive effects are offset by financial and time costs of parenthood; and (c) the impact of these costs varies considerably with family factors, such as the age and number of children, marital status, and the parents’ employment arrangements.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 16:49:36 +0000
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