Is Parenthood Contributing to Emotional Wellbeing? The Neutrality Paradox and a Possible Resolution

TL;DR

This study finds that parenthood has a small positive effect on meaning in life but not on happiness or life satisfaction, contradicting evolutionary predictions.

Contribution

The study reveals a 'neutrality paradox' where parents report similar hedonic wellbeing to non-parents despite perceiving children as sources of positive emotions.

Findings

Parenthood had a small positive effect on eudaimonic wellbeing, especially for women.

No significant differences were found between parents and non-parents in hedonic wellbeing or life satisfaction.

Parents reported slightly lower relationship satisfaction compared to non-parents.

Abstract

Evolutionary theorizing predicts that parenthood is associated with higher hedonic wellbeing (experiencing more positive and fewer negative emotions), higher eudaimonic wellbeing (experiencing greater meaning in life), and greater life satisfaction. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed a dataset comprising 5,556 participants drawn from 10 different nations. We found a small positive effect of parenthood on eudaimonic wellbeing, which was more pronounced for women. Conversely, we found virtually no differences between parents and nonparents across all measured dimensions of hedonic wellbeing and life satisfaction. Furthermore, for most dimensions, we did not detect significant interactions between parenthood status and sex, age, or relationship status. Additionally, participants with children reported lower relationship satisfaction than those without children; however, the observed difference was small. Our results contrast with evolutionary predictions, as well as empirical findings showing that parents perceive their children as sources of positive emotions and life purpose, creating a paradox for which we offer a possible resolution.

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