Happiness begets children? Evidence for a bi-directional link between well-being and number of children Academic Article

abstract

• 2015 Taylor & Francis. The purpose of the current research was to examine the association between different facets of well-being and parenthood status. Specifically, using two longitudinal data sets, the present research explored whether individuals who possess high cognitive (Studies 1 & 2), emotional, and psychological well-being (Study 2) are more likely to subsequently become parents compared to their less happy counterparts. The results of both studies demonstrated that well-being at Time 1 positively predicted number of children at Time 2, controlling for a number of relevant variables (e.g. income, age). Additional analyses revealed that the relationship between cognitive well-being and subsequently having children was particularly strong for people who did not have any children previously. Potential mechanisms explaining how and why well-being may influence parenthood are discussed.

authors

• Hicks, Joshua

published proceedings

• JOURNAL OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

altmetric score

• 24.45

author list (cited authors)

• Kim, J., & Hicks, J. A.

citation count

• 7

complete list of authors

• Kim, Jinhyung||Hicks, Joshua A

publication date

• January 2016

publisher

• Taylor & Francis  Publisher

published in

• Journal of Positive Psychology  Journal

keywords

• Happiness
• Life Satisfaction
• Longitudinal Data
• Parenthood
• Well-being

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1080/17439760.2015.1025420

start page

• 62

end page

• 69

volume

• 11

issue

• 1

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2015.1025420