# Parenthood and Women’s Subjective Well-being in a Low-income, High-fertility Context: A Case Study from Rural Gaza Province, Mozambique

## TL;DR

This study explores how having children affects the happiness of mid-life women in rural Mozambique, finding that young children at home reduce happiness while older children abroad increase it.

## Contribution

The study distinguishes the impact of child age and residence on mothers' life satisfaction in a high-fertility, low-income context.

## Key findings

- Having young children at home is linked to lower life satisfaction for mid-life women.
- Older children living abroad are associated with higher life satisfaction.
- Economic conditions do not fully explain these associations.

## Abstract

In rural high-fertility settings where people depend on subsistence agriculture, children are expected to provide material support to their parents in later life, with implications for physical health and material well-being of parents. Substantial research has examined these material consequences. Fewer studies have examined the implications of parenthood for subjective well-being in these contexts, in contrast to a larger body of research in low-fertility contexts. The existing studies of parenthood and subjective well-being in high-fertility contexts suggest that this relationship depends on parents’ gender and age, but do not distinguish between the impact of parent life stage and the impact of child age and other child characteristics. In this study, we draw on data from a population-based survey of ever-married women in rural Gaza Province, Mozambique, to show how mid-life women’s subjective well-being, measured as life satisfaction, is related to the number, age, and residential status of children. We also investigate whether the association between children’s characteristics and mother’s life satisfaction is mediated by other domains related to anticipated returns to childbearing, such as household economic conditions and mother’s physical and mental health. Results show that having young children in the household is negatively associated with life satisfaction, while having older children living outside the country is positively associated with life satisfaction. These associations are not fully explained by potential mechanisms such as economic conditions. We reflect on the implications of these findings in a context of changing livelihood strategies.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11113-025-09978-8.