The increasing happiness of US parents

Herbst, Chris M.; Ifcher, John

doi:10.1007/s11150-015-9302-0

Cited by 38 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 57 publications

(49 reference statements)

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“…It has been found, for example, that establishing and maintaining an intimate FAMILY MATTERS 34 committed relationship (e.g., marriage, cohabitation) robustly boosts one's well-being (Diener, Gohm, Suh, & Oishi, 2000;Lucas, Clark, Georgellis, & Diener, 2003;Luhmann, Hofmann, Eid, & Lucas, 2012;Stutzer & Frey, 2006). On the other hand, some research suggests decreased well-being as a function of parenting (Campbell, Converse, & Rodgers, 1976;Evenson & Simon, 2005;Glenn & McLanahan, 1982;Glenn & Weaver, 1979;McLanahan & Adams, 1987), while other research suggests increased well-being (Aassve, Goisis, & Sironi, 2012;Ballas & Dorling, 2007;Herbst & Ifcher, 2016;Nelson, Kushlev, English, Dunn, & Lyubormirsky, 2013)-a phenomenon known as "the parenthood paradox" (Baumeister, 1991).…”

Section: Existing Research On Long-term Familial Bondsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Matters: Rethinking the Psychology of Human Social Motivation

Pick

Kwon

et al. 2019

Perspect Psychol Sci

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What motives do people prioritize in their social lives? Historically, social psychologists, especially those adopting an evolutionary perspective, have devoted a great deal of research attention to sexual attraction and romantic-partner choice (mate seeking). Research on long-term familial bonds (mate retention and kin care) has been less thoroughly connected to relevant comparative and evolutionary work on other species, and in the case of kin care, these bonds have been less well researched. Examining varied sources of data from 27 societies around the world, we found that people generally view familial motives as primary in importance and mate-seeking motives as relatively low in importance. Compared with other groups, college students, single people, and men place relatively higher emphasis on mate seeking, but even those samples rated kin-care motives as more important. Furthermore, motives linked to long-term familial bonds are positively associated with psychological well-being, but mate-seeking motives are associated with anxiety and depression. We address theoretical and empirical reasons why there has been extensive research on mate seeking and why people prioritize goals related to long-term familial bonds over mating goals. Reallocating relatively greater research effort toward long-term familial relationships would likely yield many interesting new findings relevant to everyday people’s highest social priorities.

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Section: Existing Research On Long-term Familial Bondsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family Matters: Rethinking the Psychology of Human Social Motivation

Pick

Kwon

et al. 2019

Perspect Psychol Sci

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“…Partnership formation has typically been found to increase life satisfaction; dissolution to decrease it (Clark et al 2008;Lucas 2005;Musick and Bumpass 2012;Waite and Lehrer 2003;Waite et al 2009;Zimmerman and Easterlin 2006). Results on the effect of parenting on SWB have been somewhat mixed (Kohler et al 2005;Hansen 2012;Herbst and Ifcher 2014;McLanahan and Adams 1987). The newest insights, obtained in longitudinal studies, indicate that an increase in life satisfaction takes place right before the birth of the first child, and persists though at a declining rate over the next 2 years (Baranowska and Matysiak 2011;Clark et al 2008;Myrskyla and Margolis 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Transitions and Life Satisfaction During Young Adulthood

Switek

Easterlin

2016

J Happiness Stud

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In Sweden the overall life satisfaction trajectory between ages 22 and 40 is slightly hill-shaped and dominated by life transitions, especially those relating to one's family situation. Among persons in their twenties, partnership formation and birth of a child typically lead to a slight increase in overall satisfaction with life. Between ages 30 and 40 average life satisfaction declines, chiefly due to the increasing strains of family life and the breakup of couples. These strains are evident in data relating to specific aspects of family life. After age 30 satisfaction with one's partner declines, and so does satisfaction with both one's mother and father. Also, despite rising income, satisfaction with one's economic situation lessens. Considered as a whole, the evidence suggests that even in a welfare state the strains on young adults of balancing work and family life are substantial. The analysis is based on panel data, [1999][2000][2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008][2009], that focus especially on family life.

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“…This age-related restriction was made because ATUS does not record if a respondent has ever had a birth or adopted a child; only if they had a child living in the household and their relationship to the child. Thus, we cannot distinguish between "nonparents" (respondents without biological or adoptive children) and "empty-nesters" (respondents who are parents of grown children that live outside of the home)-a limitation that is shared by other datasets used in recent studies (e.g., Deaton and Stone 2014;Glass et al 2016;Herbst and Ifcher 2016). Thus, in following other studies (e.g., Aassve et al 2012), we cap the sample at age 50 to reduce the risk of including empty-nesters in the non-parent group, and refer to this group as other-adults.…”

Section: Samplementioning

confidence: 99%

SES and the emotional ‘benefits’ and ‘costs’ of parenting

Negraia

Augustine²

2019

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In today's society, children's value to their parents is primarily emotional. As such, scholars have devoted a tremendous amount of effort to understanding how children both enhance, and diminish, the emotional wellbeing of parents. What remains unclear, however, is how these emotional 'costs' and 'benefits' vary across different socioeconomic segments of U.S. society.We investigate this question using random effects models and a representative sample of adults participating in the American Time Use Survey Wellbeing Module (N activities =52,036, N respondents =17,481). We find that caring for minor children (versus not) is associated with greater levels of positive emotions (happiness, meaning) and less sadness for all socioeconomic groups, but it is only associated with greater levels of negative emotions (stress, fatigue) for higher SES parents. This overall pattern of results was also observed when looking only at men.For women, however, it was only observed among higher SES mothers. For lower SES women, raising children did not seem to enhance, or diminish, emotional wellbeing. We discuss these SES and gender related findings in the context of recent trends in fertility among both lower and higher socioeconomic segments of society, as well as trends in social inequality more broadly.

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The increasing happiness of US parents

Cited by 38 publications

References 57 publications

Family Matters: Rethinking the Psychology of Human Social Motivation

Family Matters: Rethinking the Psychology of Human Social Motivation

Life Transitions and Life Satisfaction During Young Adulthood

SES and the emotional ‘benefits’ and ‘costs’ of parenting

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