Children, unhappiness and family finances

The common finding of a zero or negative correlation between the presence of children and parental well-being continues to generate research interest. We consider international data, including well over one million observations on Europeans from 11 years of Eurobarometer surveys. We first replicate this negative finding, both in the overall data and then for most different marital statuses. Children are expensive: controlling for financial difficulties turns our estimated child coefficients positive. We argue that difficulties paying the bills explain the pattern of existing results by parental education and income and by country income and social support. Last, we underline that not all children are the same, with stepchildren commonly having a more negative correlation with well-being than children from the current relationship.

Automated summary

Research has found a negative correlation between the presence of children and parental well-being, which is mainly attributed to the high cost of raising children leading to financial difficulties. Additionally, the education and income levels of parents, as well as the country's economic status and social support, can also influence this relationship. Furthermore, stepchildren are found to have a more negative impact on well-being compared to children from the current relationship.