Does marriage and having children make life better in Europe

Children & Society, 2012

This paper examines differences in life satisfaction among children in different family structures in 36 western, industrialised countries (n = 184 496). Children living with both biological parents reported higher levels of life satisfaction than children living with a single parent or parent-step-parent. Children in joint physical custody reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction than their counterparts in other types of non-intact families. Controlling perceived family affluence, the difference between joint physical custody families and single mother or mother-stepfather families became non-significant. Difficulties in communicating with parents were strongly associated with less life satisfaction but did not mediate the relation between family structure and life satisfaction. Children in the Nordic countries characterised by strong welfare systems reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction in all living arrangements except in single father households. Differences in economic inequality between countries moderated the association between certain family structures, perceived family affluence and life satisfaction. Ó

Research on the relation between family and happiness has focused on the micro level and considered the effects of an individual’s place in the family system, such as whether or not one is married and exchange of support with kin. Macro level differences in the family system as such have received little attention as yet. In this paper we consider regional differences in family types in Europe and explore the relationship with average happiness. Data on dominant family type in regions are taken from Todd (1990), who distinguishes five family types: 1) absolute nuclear; 2) egalitarian nuclear; 3) communitarian; 4) stem family; and 5) incomplete stem family. Data on average happiness in regions are taken from the Eurobarometer surveys. Average happiness appears to be highest in regions where family pattern of “absolute nuclear” prevails and lowest in the regions where “egalitarian nuclear” family dominates. Control for economic prosperity in regions does not change this picture. A possible interpretation of these findings is that freedom adds more to happiness than equality does. It is not true for types of freedom. If horizontal freedom (intragenerational freedom) seems to be important in terms of well-being, the results are much less convincing as far as vertical freedom (intergenerational freedom) is concerned. The findings might have some far reach contribution in the field of family policy.

Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2014

2019

This paper investigates the relationship between marital arrangements and well-being in Brazil using the Social Dimensions of Inequalities Survey. Initially, household arrangements with couples in Brazil were classified in seven different types: one for those married or in relationships indistinguishable from married; and six for consensual marriage. By doing so, the paper could empirically address the natural heterogeneity of marriage and cohabitation and well-being levels. The empirical strategy was the following. First, I estimated multinomial logistic models and a probit model with continuous endogenous regressors to analyze correlations between well-being and household arrangements. Then, I estimated standard linear models, multilevel models and IV models to address the reverse link. Finally, I estimated both models interactively, taking into account the circular causality between well-being and household arrangements. The results suggest that the link between well-being and so...

Statistical Methods and Applications, 2006

This paper investigates the extent childbearing among couples in Europe affects their level of economic well being. We do so by implementing a propensity score matching procedure in combination with a difference-indifference estimator. Using data from European Community Household Panel Survey (ECHP), we compare how the impact of childbearing on wellbeing varies among countries. We use several measures for wellbeing, including poverty status and various deprivation indices that take into account the multidimensionality of individuals' assessment of wellbeing. Not unexpected we find childbearing tend to worsen the economic wellbeing of households, but with important differences in magnitude across countries. In Scandinavian countries the effect is small and rarely significant, it is strong in the UK and also significant in Mediterranean countries. Depending on the measure of wellbeing, we find important differences among countries that are similar in terms of welfare provision.

AJS; American journal of sociology, 2016

The recent proliferation of studies examining cross-national variation in the association between parenthood and happiness reveal accumulating evidence of lower levels of happiness among parents than nonparents in most advanced industrialized societies. Conceptualizing parenting as a stressor buffered by institutional support, we hypothesize that parental status differences in happiness are smaller in countries providing more resources and support to families. Our analyses of the European Social Surveys (ESS) and International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) reveal considerable variation in the parenthood gap in happiness across countries, with the U.S. showing the largest disadvantage of parenthood. We also find that more generous family policies, particularly paid time off and childcare subsidies, are associated with smaller disparities in happiness between parents and non-parents. Moreover, the policies that augment parental happiness do not reduce the happiness of nonparents. Our...

Applied Research in Quality of Life volume, 2020

Vast changes to the status of marriage in modern society have impacted the demographic makeup of many countries. Particularly in the Western world, a growing portion of the population comprises of singles that may be separated, divorced, widowed, or never married. Faced with this change, it is crucial for researchers and policymakers to understand the mechanisms behind the well-being of the unmarried. This paper explores the relationship between social capital and happiness for different types of marital groups. By performing a multilevel analysis on data from 32 countries, this research demonstrates not only that singles present higher social capital which is positively correlated with higher happiness, but also derive greater happiness from equal levels of social capital. Furthermore, this paper explores potential consequences for further research in social capital, happiness, and marital status.

2009

The purpose in the present paper is to use individual panel data in the European Community Household Panel to analyse the impact on self-reported satisfaction from a number of economic and demographic variables. The paper contributes to the ongoing discussion of the relationship between life satisfaction and income. The panel property of the data makes it possible to study also the impact on satisfaction from income changes as well as the impact from acceleration in income and changes in labour market status on changes in satisfaction. A number of demographic variables and individual attitude indicators are also entered into the analysis of both the level of satisfaction and the change in satisfaction from one wave of the survey to the next. We find a strong impact from the level of income in all countries, an impact from change and acceleration in income for a smaller number of countries, a strong impact from most changes in labour market status and finally important effects from a number of demographic variables.

DESCRIPTION This investigation examined whether the life satisfaction advantage of married over unmarried persons decreased over the last three decades, and whether the changes in the contextual gender specialization explained this trend. The author used representative data from the World Values Survey–European Values Study (WVS–EVS)-integrated data set for 87 countries (N = 292,525) covering a period of 29 years. Results showed that the life satisfaction advantage of being married decreased among men but not among women. The analysis did not support the hypothesis that contextual gender specialization shaped the observed trend. Only in developed countries the declining contextual specialization correlated with smaller life satisfaction advantage of being married. This evidence suggests that the advantages of marriage are greater under conditions that support freedom of choice rather than economic necessity.

2014

Fertility rates in contemporary Europe have reached dramatically low levels. In light of this we are interested in the extent to which childbearing events may worsen individuals ’ material wellbeing. Using a sample of women drawn from the European Community Household Panel Survey, we make a comparison of the impact of childbearing on wellbeing using a welfare regime classification. Recognising that poverty status is a poor proxy for wellbeing, we also derive several measures of wellbeing that are multidimensional in nature. These measures are referred to as deprivation indices and avoid the poor/non-poor dichotomy. We provide descriptive statistics of poverty status and deprivations indices, as well as an analysis of a more causal nature, the latter consisting of a Difference-in-Differences estimator combined with Propensity Score Matching techniques (DD-PSM). We find that in all welfare regimes, independent of how wellbeing is defined, childbearing events never have a positive impa...

Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, 2007

This article provides an overview of major findings described in the report on "Childbearing Preferences and Family Issues in Europe" written at the request of the European Commission, Directorate-General Communication, Opinion Polls (Testa 2006). The report confirms the emergence of below-replacement family size ideals in Europe: Austrian women aged 25-39 show indeed a mean value of 1.7 children. As expected, ideals are higher than actual or intended fertility, and when we add up the number of children already born with those people still intend to have in the future, several other countries show an average ultimately intended family size of less than two children. The presence of a supportive partner is the most important circumstance in childbearing decisions, and consistently, the lack of the right partner for raising children is the most frequent reason given for not meeting the fertility desires formulated at the beginning of the reproductive career. The contribution of both partners is considered necessary for a good family life, but the role of mothers is judged to be the more crucial one. Countries more liberal in terms of gender roles in family life also show preferences for larger families.

Contemporary Family Lifestyles in Central and Western Europe, 2020

In this chapter, the attention is paid to two fields which are linked with family lifestyle. The first one concerns socioeconomic situations in a family and shows that the economic side of family functioning is actually very essential these days. The importance of family economic situation is affirmed also in the results of our international survey. We asked what was the main family income, experience with unemployment and whether our respondents had possibility to save some money. Furthermore, we were interested in expenditure items and in evaluation of an overall standard of living by respondents. The Germans and then Czechs evaluated it as the best, the worst was found in families in Latvia. The second part monitors life satisfaction as a subjective feeling of well-being and is understood as a part of quality of life. To the question “How do you imagine a satisfied family?”, the most frequent response was—harmonic coexistence without conflicts, well-being, good health of all fami...

2006

The central research question in this paper is whether the effect of family status on the individual’s subjective well-being differs in different cultural contexts – here exemplified by a society with a strong family system (Poland) and another society with a weak family system (Sweden). In order to shed some light on this issue we conduct comparative analysis of Poland and Sweden, using similar survey data from the two countries. Our results indicate that currently living in a partnership has strong positive effects in both Poland and Sweden, but stronger in the latter. Having children significantly increases well-being in Sweden, but not in Poland. No gender differences in subjective well-being were found in Poland, while Swedish men were significantly less likely than Swedish women to report high levels of happiness. We offer some tentative explanations for the apparent paradox that living with a partner and/or children is associated with less “happiness” in the Polish society wi...

European Journal of Population, 2019

This research studied the relationship between parenthood and life satisfaction in Switzerland. We tested predictions derived from set-point theory, the economic model of parenthood, the approaches that underscore work-family conflict and the psychological rewards from parenthood, and the 'taste for children' theory. We used Swiss Household Panel data (2000-2018) to analyse how life satisfaction changed during parenthood (fixed-effects regression) separately for a first child and a second child, mothers and fathers, and various socio-demographic groups. Our results showed that having a second child, which is common in Switzerland, correlates negatively with mothers' life satisfaction. The observed patterns are consistent with the idea that mothers' life satisfaction trajectories reflect work-family conflict. We found partial support for the set-point and the 'taste for children' theories. Our results did not support the approaches that emphasize the importance of psychological rewards from parenthood.

Lyubomira Spasova

In the process of studying human satisfaction in general and life satisfaction in particular, the most widely used is the Life Satisfaction Scale (SWLS), Subjective Well-Being (SWB), FACES II-The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale with a cognitive component (life satisfaction) and an affective component (positive and negative emotions or emotional balance). These commonly used scales provide strong evidence of acceptability, reliability, validity and invariance for gender, while there is mixed evidence of invariance by culture and age, as well as the roles of marital status and educational level. This review article proposes an experimental operationalization between marital status and the presence of children in the family. The aim is to deduce the relationships between the number of children and the individual satisfaction of the members of a married couple. Research has found scalar invariance by gender and educational level and partial scalar invariance by marital status, but there are no relationships between marital status and number of children.