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A representative study taken in thirty European countries shows that women with low socio-economic status in particular are less satisfied with their lives than childless women in the same social situation. In Northern European countries, parenthood is associated with the highest levels of satisfaction and meaning / publication in the “Journal of Marriage and Family”
A study by Dr Ansgar Hudde and Professor Dr Marita Jacob at the University of Cologne’s Department of Sociology and Social Psychology has shown that parenthood is associated with a lower level of satisfaction in life but a greater sense of meaning. The results are published under the title “Parenthood in Europe: Not More Life Satisfaction, but More Meaning in Life” in the Journal of Marriage and Family.
Two central components of well-being were analysed in adults with and without children: life satisfaction and meaning in life. The sociologists’ analysis is based on data gathered from over 43,000 participants in thirty countries who are regularly surveyed as part of the European Social Survey. Among other things, respondents assessed how satisfied they were with their lives as a whole nowadays, all things considered, and whether they generally felt what they did with their lives to be valuable and worthwhile. “Previous debates about parenthood have focussed too much on happiness and satisfaction,” says Hudde. “Our study shows that people who have children are not automatically happier but they are more likely to feel that their own lives are meaningful and valuable.”
The study also showed that the relationship between parenthood and life satisfaction varies depending on social circumstances and national context. The question of who is more satisfied – parents or childless people – is therefore dependent on gender and socio-economic status. Looking, for instance, at women with low socio-economic status, those with children are less satisfied than those without children in the same social situation. For women with higher socio-economic status and for men as a whole, however, the differences between those with and without children are minimal. However, the relationship between parenthood and meaning in life is similar across socio-economic groups and national contexts: on average, people who have children feel that their lives carry more meaning and value.
Nevertheless, parenthood is not necessarily a ‘trade-off’ between less satisfaction and more meaning in life. This is illustrated by a comparison between European regions. Under certain conditions, such as the cultural and political context of the Nordic countries, parenthood is associated with both higher life satisfaction and meaning in life, two key components of a good life.
“The results show that good societal conditions can make both things possible: meaning and satisfaction,” says Hudde. “At the end of the 2000s, many international observers marvelled at how much German family policy had advanced – with the expansion of daycare centres and parental allowance based on the Scandinavian model. However, there is little sign of this momentum today. Today, too, new initiatives are needed to ease time pressure on families and provide them with financial support.”
Hudde and Jacob are currently working on further analyses of the relationship between parenthood, satisfaction and perceived meaning. Their ongoing work also indicates that the effect of parenthood is not only evident in a comparison of people with and without children, but also in a before-and-after comparison. Life satisfaction is shown to increase with the birth of the first child in families but quickly falls again. The perceived sense of meaning in life, on the other hand, remains permanently heightened.
Dr Ansgar Hudde
University of Cologne
Department of Sociology and Social Psychology
+49 221 470 4397
hudde@wiso.uni-koeln.de
Professor Dr Marita Jacob
University of Cologne
Department of Sociology and Social Psychology
+49 221 470 1531
marita.jacob@uni-koeln.de
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jomf.13116
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