Does Having a Baby Actually Make Parents Happy?
The first year tends to be great. The fifth, not so much.
For many couples, having a baby is one of their greatest wishes in life. But does having a baby really make parents happier? And if yes, how long does this baby bliss last? A new study published in the journal Emotion focused on answering these questions (Asselmann & Specht, 2023). A New Study on How Parents Feel After Having a Baby In the study, German scientists Eva Asselmann and Jule Specht analyzed data from more than 5,000 first-time parents from the German Socio-Economic Panel, a large-scale cohort study that started in 1984. All parents included in the study had experienced the birth of their first child between 2007 and 2019. The parents were interviewed yearly and asked about a number of different things. These included life satisfaction (“How satisfied are you currently with your life as a whole?”), as well as happiness, sadness, anxiety, and anger in the four weeks before the interview. These data were analyzed from five years before the couple became parents to five years after they became parents. A Surprising Result The scientists found out that having a baby changes psychological well-being in several ways. The most pronounced effect was a strong increase in life satisfaction and happiness in the first year of parenthood – so baby bliss is indeed real! However, life satisfaction and happiness gradually bounced back in the years following the baby’s birth. Altogether, couples showed similar levels of life satisfaction and happiness five years after becoming parents compared to five years before becoming parents. Regarding negative emotions, the strongest effect was found for anger. Anger decreases in the five years before a couple becomes parents and reaches its lowest point during the first year of parenthood. After that, it increases, and five years after the baby was born, anger was even larger than five years before the baby was born. The authors of the study suggested that these higher anger levels reflect a reaction due to the stressful aspects of being a parent, such as sleep deprivation or time conflicts between family and work. For sadness and anxiety, the effects were only small. Sadness showed similar effects to anger but did not reach higher levels five years after the baby was born compared to five years before the baby was born, and anxiety gradually increased the five years before the baby was born, which may reflect anticipation effects. An analysis of gender effects revealed that mothers experienced a more substantial increase in happiness and life satisfaction than fathers but also experienced stronger anger effects. The study's authors suggested that biological factors or gender role expectations may explain this effec. Take-Away: Baby Bliss Lasts for a Short Time Taken together, the results of the study clearly show that baby bliss exists. In the first year of a baby’s life, the parents are happier and more satisfied with their life than before. However, this effect only lasts shortly and when the child is five years old, both happiness and life satisfaction of his or her parents had bounced back to the level they were at five years before the child was born. Moreover, anger levels rise, reflecting the stressful aspects of parenthood. This shows that having a baby has a lot of positive short-term effects on psychological well-being, but for high long-term life satisfaction, it is essential to find strategies to cope with the stressful aspects of having a child. reference: psychology today link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-asymmetric-brain/202303/baby-bliss-does-having-a-baby-make-parents-happy
Many parents think that children are the hope of their lives and without them, life is meaningless. It is true that children bring a lot of love and affection to the family when they bored, but they are not all the hope and joy. The main foundations of a life are men and women. And if they can’t build love together, children can’t do anything. Thank you very much professor.
Hello Sir,
Your article was so useful and I could remember many parents while reading each sentence and I’ve really seen these effects in them.
In my opinion while a child grows , its problems, stress , responsibilities, and … will grow , too.
It was a wonderful article
As a rule, parents show more interest in their children at the beginning of their birth, but due to the spread of problems and the child’s growth, this interest rarely decreases.
Many parents believe that having children was their most important event, and some people are also interested in children and like to spend time. In past generations, having children was considered a necessity and even a requirement. Having a child was a part of a person becoming an adult in the society and accepting him among the people around him. However, in recent years, this traditional view is no longer as dominant as it used to be, and a large number of people choose not to reproduce, but there are still women who are blamed for not becoming mothers by their relatives or spouses. Theories however differ
It was great, dear teacher
Many parents believe that having children was their most important event, and some people are also interested in children and like to spend time. In past generations, having children was considered a necessity and even a requirement. Having a child was a part of a person becoming an adult in the society and accepting him among the people around him. However, in recent years, this traditional view is no longer as dominant as it used to be, and a large number of people choose not to reproduce, but there are still women who are blamed for not becoming mothers by their relatives or spouses. Theories however differ
Hello master,
Well in my opinion , having a child is a big responsibility that it becomes harder and harder when time passes.
I agree with that the anger after five years of child birth, increases. And I think it’s because of vein worry and having the stress for the children. Generally having a child needs knowledge and it’s not at all easy.
Having a child really gives hope to life and the first few years are very sweet because they do funny things and their problems are very small, but when they grow up ٫they have bigger problems and bigger demands, even parents are more worried about them, if their parents can’t fulfill the wishes of his child, they may regret why they had children.
Having a child really gives hope to life and the first few years are very sweet because they do funny things and their problems are very small, but when they grow up ٫they have bigger problems and bigger demands, even parents are more worried about them, if their parents can’t fulfill the wishes of his child, they may regret why they had children.
It’s interesting to see that research has found that having a baby may not necessarily lead to increased happiness for parents. While the idea of starting a family and raising a child can be exciting and fulfilling for some people, it’s important to also recognize the challenges that come with parenthood.
That being said, every person’s experience with parenting is unique and there is no perfect answer to the question of whether having a baby makes parents happy. It’s important to approach parenthood with realistic expectations, an open mind, and a willingness to adapt and grow alongside your child.
Most parents, especially mothers, fall into instant love or hasty love after having children. And this feeling is described as amazing. This feeling decreases over time with subsequent children.
Parental satisfaction has a direct relationship with the sense of responsibility. Responsible parents are concerned about their child’s future. The level of satisfaction of father and mother is different with the level of responsibility. In different religions, the social responsibility of children and spouses is different and it also affects their level of satisfaction. In rural communities, especially in economic systems based on agriculture, it is traditionally accepted to have more children and more male children.
The concern of the partner and the responsibility of the partner have an effect on the child’s happiness and happy living environment and physical and mental health of the child. The anger and feeling of dissatisfaction of one of the parents in parents who focus a lot on the child and ignore their partner has an unfavorable effect on the relationship and psychological and educational atmosphere of the child, and if this emphasis is on the second child with the first child being less visible, the child The first causes a mental crisis.
Parents’ satisfaction with having children:
Most parents, especially mothers, fall into instant love or hasty love after having children. And this feeling is described as amazing. This feeling decreases over time with subsequent children.
Parental satisfaction has a direct relationship with the sense of responsibility. Responsible parents are concerned about their child’s future. The level of satisfaction of father and mother is different with the level of responsibility. In different religions, the social responsibility of children and spouses is different and it also affects their level of satisfaction. In rural communities, especially in economic systems based on agriculture, it is traditionally accepted to have more children and more male children.
The concern of the partner and the responsibility of the partner have an effect on the child’s happiness and happy living environment and physical and mental health of the child. The anger and feeling of dissatisfaction of one of the parents in parents who focus a lot on the child and ignore their partner has an unfavorable effect on the relationship and psychological and educational atmosphere of the child, and if this emphasis is on the second child with the first child being less visible, the child The first causes a mental crisis.
The content is extremely useful and excellent. Although I have no experience in this field, a family becomes more complete and happy by having a child.
The topic of study and research in this article was very interesting. People who have children are actually happier than people who don’t have children.
This article was really great and interesting topic. I think that parents often feel more satisfied and happy in the first year of having a baby, because of their initial taste for having a baby. But with the passage of time, as the baby grows older, his problems increase and finally, the initial taste of the parents decreases.
Hi teacher lam maryam farajkhah l really appreciate your efforts the content is excellent and useful .l hope we have valuable efforts like yours.
Good time, dear teacher I am niloofar khoshdel from Iranian University. The topic of study and research in this article was very interesting. And by confirming these statements, in my opinion, these psychological states after the birth of a baby in parents can depend on the temperamental characteristics of the parents, the relationship Have emotional parents Thank you very much for this beautiful article and topic
Considering that I did not have children myself, it was very interesting
thanks for your attention.
Please explain more about the things that are interesting to you in this article.