Is It All About Happiness?

Key messages:

• Policies and services aimed at promoting work-life balance should sustain the wellbeing of parents, in particular mothers.
• Wellbeing following the first child is a key element leading to the progression to the second birth. This parity should constitute the main target for family and fertility policies.
• Securing stable employment and decent housing at younger ages for men and women are necessary measures for the onset of childbearing and to close the gap between desired and realised fertility intentions in Europe.
• Norms enforcing the uptake of parental leave by both men and women are necessary in order to increase the wellbeing of parents.

References:

• Aassve, A., Mencarini, L & Sironi, M. (2015). Institutional Change, Happiness and Fertility. European Sociological Review 31(6): 749-765.
• Le Moglie, M., Mencarini, L & Rapallini, C. (2018). Does Income Moderate the Parental Satisfaction after the Birth of the First Child? In Germany It Does and Depends on Education. Journal of Population Economics 32(3): 915-952.
• Le Moglie, M., Mencarini, L. & Rapallini, C. (2015). Is It Just A Matter of Personality? On the role of well-being in childbearing behavior. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 117: 453–475.
• Kohler, H.P. & Mencarini, L. (2016). The Parenthood Happiness Puzzle: An Introduction to Special Issue. European Journal of Population 32(3): 327-338.
• Matysiak, A., Mencarini, L. & Vignoli, D. (2016). Work–Family Conflict Moderates the Relationship between Childbearing and Subjective Well-Being. European Journal of Population 32(2): 355-379.
• Mencarini, L., Vignoli, D., Zeydanli, T & J. Kim (2018). Life Satisfaction Favors Reproduction. The universal positive effect of life satisfaction on childbearing in contemporary low fertility countries. PLoS ONE 13(12): 1-19.