Children, Spousal Love, and Happiness: An Economic Analysis

Shoshana Grossbard and Sankar Mukhopadhyay

No 7119, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper we examine how children affect happiness and relationships within a family by analyzing two unique questions in the National Longitudinal Study of Youth's 1997 cohort. We find that (a) presence of children is associated with a loss of spousal love; (b) loss of spousal love is associated with loss of overall happiness; but (c) presence of children is not associated with significant loss of overall happiness. If children reduce feelings of being loved by the spouse but do not reduce reported happiness even though spousal love induces happiness, then it must be the case that children contribute to parental happiness by providing other benefits. After ruling out some competing compensation mechanisms we infer that loss of spousal love is compensated with altruistic feelings towards children.

Keywords: religion; marriage; emotions; happiness; children (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2012-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-hpe and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Review of Economics of the Household, 2013, 11 (3), 447-467

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Journal Article: Children, spousal love, and happiness: an economic analysis (2013)
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