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Parenthood Can Taste Bitter or Sweet, Depending on Your Age
Filed under: In The News
Kids make parents happier as Mom and Dad age. Credit: Getty
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found having babies often bums out people in their 20s. They can't party as much, and all that money spent on diapers keeps them from buying an awesome new dirt bike.
Aw, maaaan!
However, a press release from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, the largest demographic research body in Europe and one of the largest in the world, says people's attitudes change as they grow older. By the time they hit middle age, this idea of having little ones to love (and who will love them in return) seems pretty awesome, too.
According the release, people older than 50 can't get enough of kids. Researchers found older parents were generally happier than their childless peers -- no matter how many kids they had running around the house.
By contrast, researchers discovered, the happiness of 20-somethings takes a dip even after one child comes into the picture, and dips more and more as each new baby comes along.
Parents in their 30s are just as happy as childless couples -- until they have four or more children. In their 40s, parents are happy until they have more than three children.
Then, people hit 50, and suddenly there's always room for one more. Or two. Or three.
"Children may be a long-term investment in happiness," demographer Mikko Myrskylä of the Max Planck Institute says in the release.
Myrskylä worked with Rachel Margolis from the University of Pennsylvania on the report published in the latest issue of the journal Population and Development Review, and the researchers say their data on parental happiness is global.
Thirty-somethings in Germany are likely to have the same level of happiness regarding children as a similar demographic in the United States.
In the release, Myrskylä says the study debunks the fairytale notion that children universally bring happiness.
"Seeing the age trend of happiness independent of sex, income, partnership status and even fertility rates shows that one has to explain it from the perspective of the stage of parent's life," he says.
But there is one dynamic -- independent of age -- to consider.
The study suggests older parents with numerous children are particularly happy in former socialist states. That's because those countries have less developed social welfare systems, and parents depend more on their grown children for financial support.
Researchers collected data from more than 200,000 men and women and men from 1981 to 2005. According to the release, this is the largest international survey ever to include questions concerning happiness and parenting.
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 2)
3-09-2011 @ 12:10PM
chris said...Well said NES!!!!
I'm tired of the immaturity from my peers and the self rightousness of my elders :Perfectly stated
3-09-2011 @ 3:43PM
tyrebitre said..."What I have found to be true is that the children of the older parents are the ones that suffer. The children grow up having nothing in common with their parents. They cannot see eye to eye on any current issues because what was a current issue at the time the parent was their child's age no longer has any bearing on today's world."----------
Really ? And what I have found to be true is that most all people upon becoming parents suddenly suffer this huge case of amnesia: they suddenly forget how things were when they were the age of their children, and magically expect their children to NOT do the things they themselves did while willingly following whatever path the parents envision for them: didn't work when I was young - won't work now. As for the inability for older people to comprehend current affairs: I'm not immature enough OR self-righteous enough to think that simply turning 50 causes ones mind to turn to tapioca and the loss of all ability to think, reason, or understand what is happening in the world. I'm 63 : it was ME who, upon hearing Stewart declare his "Rally for Sanity", loaded up my 23 year old daughter, her BF, and my 13 year old grandson (from my older [39] daughter) and headed to Washington (and I'll wager I was the ONLY white 60+ year old male Mississippi native there [and probably also the only one who was at Obama's inauguration] ). How one raises their kids has to do with one's basic core beliefs more so than age.
3-09-2011 @ 12:05PM
becky said...The real question should be: "Are CHILDREN of older parents happier?" Parenting is about giving, not receiving. People who are not ready for that sacrifice should spare their children and either don't get pregnant or allow a willling and eager parent to adopt and love the child.
Children of older parents get all kinds of perks such as financial security and life and work experiences to share. I am not sure that makes them happier though. Hopefully it does, because I am an older parent. All I care about (almost) is my kids. I have plenty of money, and spend very little on myself. My time is dedicated to them primarily while i'm not at work. My husband is the same way, and our kids have a lot of fun and really don't ask for material things. Also, with extra time spent on them, we get to know their friends and their friends' parents. This is important.
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3-09-2011 @ 5:42PM
Jan said...If today's birth control ads are any indication of the basic selfishness of today's younger generations, then it's no wonder that women (and men) in their 20's and 30's are resentful and unhappy with having children. If one's goal is not a family and a future, but gimmicks and things, vacations and possessions and pure self-indulgence, children suffer and parents short themselves of joy and blessings.
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