The effect of parenthood on subjective well-being in Hungary

Increasing amounts of research about the effect of parenthood on subjective well-being has produced mixed evidence. The issue is here re-examined in the Hungarian context with a genetic matching method using longitudinal data from the Turning Points of Life Course survey (Hungarian GGS). Overall, the research described in this paper finds that fertility has a positive effect on subjective well-being in general. Moreover, not only the first child but also the second generates an increase in subjective well-being. However, observation of the moderating effect of gender reveals that women benefit from having children both in the short and long term, whereas men experience only a temporary short-term increase in subjective well-being upon the arrival of a child. To sum up, the research described in this paper finds that pre-existing theory that uses the link between parenthood and subjective well-being to explain fertility trends makes a limited contribution to the discussion about the Hungarian situation.

Márta Radó is a doctoral candidate at the Corvinus University of Budapest and a junior researcher at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, "Lendület" Research Center for Educational and Network Studies (RECENS) and at the Corvinus University Social Futuring Center. Her methodological interest includes causality, agent based modelling and network analysis. From a substantive point of view, she has done research on fertility, aging, work-life balance, prejudices, inequalities and education. The topic of her dissertation is the "Life events effect on subjective well-being".