Perhaps this headline is too obvious for many long-suffering parents who have to reconcile marathon working days with childcare and household chores, but the truth is that the study it refers to has explored an aspect little known until now, or at least little studied at the statistical level.
On the one hand, many studies have shown the beneficial effects of living with a partner, both on physical and mental health. For example, a study published in the American College of Cardiology revealed that married people are less likely to develop cardiovascular disease, possibly due to the emotional stability and mutual care that the members of the couple give each other.
But what happens when the children come? In most countries of the world, especially those that have little or no conciliation policies, parents of underage children show more stress and, in general, seem less satisfied with life than adults without children: they sleep less, they have less money and, of course, less free time. However, the effects of fatherhood on parental well-being are unclear, as some studies have also found that people with offspring, especially men, have a longer life expectancy.
Well, a study that has just been published in the journal Plos One has spun a little finer and concludes that the effect of children on the well-being of their parents is different according to age or, rather, the moment of the life cycle of their parents. People over 50 years of age and, in general, with independent children, are more satisfied with life and have fewer symptoms of depression than those who did not have children.
Children, a social support in maturity
“Depending on the stage of life, the effects of parenthood are different, and our study suggests that the positive aspects dominate as you age,” the authors explain in the article. ” Among others, children play an important role as social support for their parents in the mature stages of life.”
In other words: when children become independent, they tend to stop being a source of stress for their parents and other more friendly aspects of the relationship begin to predominate: the offspring are a source of social relationships, care and, sometimes, even economic support (although it seems that with the economic crisis this trend has been reverted and it is pensioner parents and grandparents who continue to support many families ).
Regarding the fact of having grandchildren, the results of the work do not provide much clarity : on the one hand, they are a source of joy and that social support that we talked about in the previous paragraph, but at the same time, and more in countries with little support parenthood, are also a source of stress as grandparents become, from Monday to Friday, the primary caregivers of the children while the parents are at work.
To reach these conclusions, the researchers, from the University of Heildelberg (Germany), analyzed data from a survey that had asked more than 55,000 people over 50 years of age in more than 16 European countries about their emotional well-being. In addition, the researchers found positive associations between well-being and marital status and other types of social networks. In conclusion: with or without children, as a couple or single, it seems that we age much better if we do it with someone else.
Reference: Becker et al, 2019. Marriage, parenthood and social network: Subjective well-being and mental health in old age. Plos One
