Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Since healthy parents are more likely to provide a fulfilling childhood to their children, it seems crucial to examine those aspects of parenthood that add to parental well-being. The present article discusses the theoretical relationship between well-being and parenting within the contemporary social and relational context by underlining how society and children play significant roles in determining parental well-being.

Keywords

parenting parental well-being parenthood attachment well-being

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alenko

Girma

Abera

Workicho

(2020). Children emotional and behavioural problems and its association with maternal depression in Jimma town, southwest Ethiopia. General Psychiatry, 33(4), e100211. https://doi.org/10.1136/gpsych-2020-100211.

Avison

W. R.

Ali

Walters

(2007). Family structure, stress, and psychological distress: A demonstration of the impact of differential exposure. Journal of Health & Social Behavior, 48(3), 301–317. https://doi.org/10.1177/002214650704800307.

Baumrind

(1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental Psychology, 4(1), 101–103. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0030372

Baumrind

(1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 11(1), 56–95. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431691111004

Beauchaine

T. P.

Hinshaw

S. P.

(2008). Child and adolescent psychopathology. John Wiley & Sons.

Begall

Mills

(2011). The impact of subjective work control, job strain and work-family conflict on fertility intentions: A European comparison. European Journal of Population = Revue Europeenne de Demographie, 27(4), 433–456. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-011-9244-z

Ben-Zur

(2003). Happy adolescents: the link between subjective well-being, internal resources, and parental factors. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 32(1), 67–79. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021864432505

Berkowitz

Marsiglio

(2007). Gay men: negotiating procreative, father, and family identities. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69(2), 366–381. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2007.00371.x.

Bergstrom-Lynch

(2015). Lesbians, gays, and bisexuals becoming parents or remaining childfree: confronting social inequalities. Lexington Books.

10.

Bornovalova

M. A.

Hicks

B. M.

Iacono

W. G.

McGue

(2010). Familial transmission and heritability of childhood disruptive disorders. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 167(9), 1066–1074. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2010.09091272.

11.

Bos

van Gelderen

Gartrell

(2015). Lesbian and heterosexual two-parent families: adolescent–parent relationship quality and adolescent well-being. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24(4), 1031–1046. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-9913-8.

12.

Brown

S. L.

(2000). The effect of union type on psychological well-being: depression among cohabitors versus marrieds. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 41(3), 244–255. https://doi.org/10.2307/2676319

13.

Cartwright

(2010). An exploratory investigation of parenting practices in stepfamilies. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 39(1), 57–64. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claire-Cartwright/publication/286701169_An_exploratory_investigation_of_parenting_practices_in_stepfamilies/links/569acc3408ae748dfb0b8a96/An-exploratory-investigation-of-parenting-practices-in-stepfamilies.pdf

14.

Casas

Coenders

Cummins

González

Figuer

Malo

(2008). Does subjective well-being show a relationship between parents and their children? Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(2), 197–205. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-007-9044-7.

15.

Cere

(2013). Towards an integrative account of parenthood. In McClain

Cere

(Eds.), What is parenthood? Contemporary debates about the family (pp. 19–40). NYU Press.

16.

Christensen

D. H.

Rettig

K. D.

(1996). The relationship of remarriage to post-divorce co-parenting. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 24(1–2), 73–88. https://doi.org/10.1300/J087v24n01_06.

17.

Darling

Steinberg

(1993). Parenting style as context: an integrative model. Psychological Bulletin, 113(3), 487–496. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.113.3.487

18.

Deci

E. L.

Ryan

R. M.

(2008). Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: an introduction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-006-9018-1

19.

Diener

(2000). Subjective well-being: the science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 34–43. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.34

20.

Diener

Oishi

Lucas

R. E.

(2009). Subjective well-being: the science of happiness and life satisfaction. In Lopez

S. J.

Snyder

C. R.

(Eds.), Oxford Handbook of positive psychology (2nd ed., pp. 187–194). Oxford University Press.

21.

Dunn

(2002). The adjustment of children in stepfamilies: lessons from community studies. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 7(4), 154–161. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-3588.00028.

22.

Durkheim

(1951). Suicide: A study in sociology. (J.A. Spaulding & G. Simpson, Trans.). Free Press. (Original work published 1897).

23.

Eley

T. C.

(2001). Contributions of behavioral genetics research: quantifying genetic, shared environmental and nonshared environmental influences. In Vasey

M. W.

Dadds

M. R.

(Eds.), The developmental psychopathology of anxiety (pp. 45–59). Oxford University Press.

24.

Erikson, E. H. (1963). Youth, change and challenge. Basic Books.

25.

Friedman

Hechter

Kanazawa

(1994). A theory of the value of children. Demography, 31(3), 375–401. https://doi.org/10.2307/2061749

26.

Fromm

(1947). Man for himself: an inquiry into the psychology of ethics. Fawcett.

27.

Gates

G. J.

(2013). “LGBT parenting in the United States”. Postprint. UCLA: The Williams Institute. http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/LGBT-Parenting.pdf.

28.

Gato

Leal

Coimbra

Tasker

(2020). Anticipating parenthood among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and heterosexual young adults without children in Portugal: predictors and profiles. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(1058), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01058

29.

Glass

Simon

R. W.

Andersson

M. A.

(2016). Parenthood and happiness: effects of work-family reconciliation policies in 22 OECD countries. American Journal of Sociology, 122(3), 886–929. https://doi.org/10.1086/688892.

30.

Goldberg

A. E.

Allen

K. R.

(2013). Conclusion: reflections on the volume and visions for the future. In A. E. Goldberg, & K. R. Allen (Eds.), LGBT-parent families: innovations in research and implications for practice (pp. 359–365). Springer.

31.

Golombok

(2017). Parenting in new family forms. Current Opinion in Psychology, 15(3), 76–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.02.004.

32.

Golombok

Murray

Jadva

Lycett

MacCallum

Rust

(2006). Non-genetic and non-gestational parenthood: Consequences for parent–child relationships and the psychological well-being of mothers, fathers and children at age 3. Human Reproduction, 21(7), 1918–1924. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/del039

33.

Goodman

Silverstein

(2002). Grandparents raising grandchildren: family structure and well-being in culturally diverse families. The Gerontologist, 42(1), 676–689. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/42.5.676

34.

Goodman

S. H.

Rouse

M. H.

Connell

A. M.

Broth

M. R.

Hall

C. M.

Heyward

(2011). Maternal depression and child psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 14(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-010-0080-1

35.

Herndon

R. W.

Iacono

W. G.

(2005). Psychiatric disorder in the children of antisocial parents. Psychological Medicine, 35(12), 1815–1824. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291705005635.

36.

Kagan

(1992). The limits of well-being. Social Philosophy & Policy, 9(2), 169–189. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052500001461.

37.

Kageyama

Matsuura

(2018). The financial burden of having children and fertility differentials across development and life stages: evidence from satisfaction data. Journal of Happiness Studies, 19(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-016-9799-9

38.

Källquist

Salzmann-Erikson

(2019). Experiences of having a parent with serious mental illness: an interpretive meta-synthesis of qualitative literature. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 28(8), 2056–2068. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01438-0.

39.

Kahneman

Diener

Schwarz

(1999). Preface. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. ix-xii). Russell Sage Foundation. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7758/9781610443258.4

40.

Katz-Wise

S. L.

Priess

H. A.

Hyde

J. S.

(2010). Gender-role attitudes and behavior across the transition to parenthood. Developmental Psychology, 46(1), 18–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017820.

41.

Kenrick

D. T.

Griskevicius

Neuberg

S. L.

Schaller

(2010). Renovating the pyramid of needs: contemporary extensions built upon ancient foundations. Perspectives on Psychological Science: A Journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 5(3), 292–314. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610369469.

42.

Keyes

C. L. M.

(2009). Towards a science of mental health. In Lopez

S. J.

Snyder

C. R.

(Eds.), Oxford Handbook of positive psychology (2nd ed., pp. 89–95). Oxford University Press.

43.

Kim

Hicks

J. A.

(2016). Happiness begets children? Evidence for a bi-directional link between wellbeing and number of children. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(1), 62–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2015.1025420

44.

Lloyd

T. J.

Hastings

(2009). Hope as a psychological resilience factor in mothers and fathers of children with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 53(1), 957–968. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2788.2009.01206.x

45.

Luhmann

Hofmann

Eid

Lucas

R. E.

(2012). Subjective well-being and adaptation to life events: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 102(3), 592–615. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025948.

46.

Margolis

Myrskylä

(2011). A global perspective on happiness and fertility. Population & Development Review, 37(1), 29–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2011.00389.x

47.

Marques

S. C.

Pais-Riberio

J. L.

Lopez

S. J.

(2007, July 3–6). Relationship between children's hope and guardian's hope. Poster presented at the10th European Congress of Psychology, Prague, Czech Republic.

48.

Maslauskaitė

Steinbach

(2020). Paternal psychological well-being after union dissolution: does involved fatherhood have a protective effect? In Kreyenfeld

Trappe

(Eds.), Parental life courses after separation and divorce in Europe (pp. 215–234). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44575-1_12.

49.

McClain

(2013). A diversity approach to parenthood in family life and family law. In McClain

Cere

(Eds.), What is parenthood? Contemporary debates about the family (pp. 41–62). NYU Press.

50.

McClain

Cere

(2013). What is parenthood? Contemporary debates about the family. NYU Press.

51.

McLanahan

Adams

(1989). The effects of children on adults’ psychological well-being: 1957–1976. Social Forces, 68(1), 124–146. https://doi.org/10.2307/2579223

52.

Mikucka

(2016). How does parenthood affect life satisfaction in Russia? Advances in Life Course Research, 30(1), 16–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2016.03.004

53.

Milke

M. A.

Bierman

Schieman

(2008). How adult children influence older parents’ mental health: integrating stress-process and life-course perspectives. Social Psychology Quarterly, 71(1), 86–105. https://doi.org/10.1177/019027250807100109

54.

Moore

(2020). Divorce, emotions, and legal regulations: shared parenting in a climate of fear. In Kreyenfeld

Trappe

(Eds.), Parental life courses after separation and divorce in Europe (pp. 131–147). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44575-1_12.

55.

Moore

M. R.

Stambolis-Ruhstorfer

. (2013). LGBT sexuality and families at the start of the twenty-first century . Annual Review of Sociology, 39(1), 491–507. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071312-145643.

56.

Nelson

S. K.

Lyubomirsky

(2015). Juggling family and career: Parents’ pathways to a balanced and happy life. In Burke

R. J.

Page

K. M.

Cooper

C. L.

(Eds.), New horizons in management. Flourishing in life, work and careers: individual wellbeing and career experiences (pp. 100–118). Edward Elgar Publishing.

57.

Nomaguchi

K. M.

(2012). Parenthood and psychological well-being: clarifying the role of child age and parent-child relationship quality. Social Science Research, 41(2), 489–498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2011.08.001

58.

Nomaguchi

K. M.

Milkie

(2003). Costs and rewards of children: the effects of becoming a parent on adults’ lives. Journal of Marriage & Family, 66(1), 413–430. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00356.x

59.

Olsson

M. B.

Hwang

C. P.

(2008). Socioeconomic and psychological variables as risk and protective factors for parental well–being in families of children with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 52(12), 1102–1113. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2788.2008.01081.x.

60.

Pettit

Hook

J. L.

(2009). Gendered tradeoffs. Russell Sage Foundation.

61.

Population Council. (1997, June 30). Why do Americans want children? Science Daily. Retrieved September 17, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1997/06/970630000458.html.

62.

Pudrovska

. (2008). Psychological implications of motherhood and fatherhood in midlife: evidence from sibling models. Journal of Marriage & Family, 70(1), 168–181. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2007.00469.x

63.

Radó

M. K.

(2020). Tracking the effects of parenthood on subjective well-being: evidence from Hungary. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(1), 2069–2094. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00166-y

64.

Ryff

C. D.

(1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the Meaning of Psychological Well-Being. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069

65.

Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. H. (2008). Know thyself and become what you are: a eudaimonic approach to psychological well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies: An Interdisciplinary Forum on Subjective Well-Being, 9(1), 13–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-006-9019-0

66.

Schwarz

Mayer

Trommsdorff

Ben-Arieh

Friedlmeier

Lubiewska

Mishra

Peltzer

(2012). Does the importance of parent and peer relationships for adolescents’ life satisfaction vary across cultures? The Journal of Early Adolescence, 32(1), 55–80. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431611419508.

67.

Shapiro

(2003). Later-life divorce and parent-adult child contact and proximity. Journal of Family Issues, 24(1), 264–285. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X02250099

68.

Stanković

(2014). Lone mothers and their network support: sociodemographic research of nonmarital parenthood in Serbia. Stanovnistvo, 52(1), 55–76. https://doi.org/10.2298/STNV1401055S

69.

Suldo

S. M.

(2009). Parent-child relationships. In Gilman

Huebner

E. S.

Furlong

(Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology in the schools (pp. 245–256). Routledge.

70.

Suldo

S. M.

Fefer

S. A.

(2013). Parent-child relationships and well-being. In Proctor

Linley

P. A.

(Eds.), Research, applications, and interventions for children and adolescents: A positive psychology perspective (pp. 131–147). Springer Science + Business Media.

71.

Twenge

J. M.

Campbell

W. K.

Foster

C. A.

(2003). Parenthood and marital satisfaction: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Marriage & Family, 65(1), 574–583. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00574.x

72.

Wenger

G. C.

Dykstra

P. A.

Melkas

Knipscheer

K. C. P. M.

(2007). Social embeddedness and late-life parenthood: community activity, close ties, and support networks. Journal of Family Issues, 28(11), 1419–1456. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X07303895.

73.

Yang

Wang

Teng

Ren

. (2008). The Impact of Adult Attachment and Parental Rearing on Subjective Well-Being in Chinese Late Adolescents. Social Behavior & Personality, 36(1), 1365–1378. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2008.36.10.1365

74.

Zhang

Guo

Jin

Chen

(2019). Who gains more? The relationship between parenthood and well-being. Evolutionary Psychology, 17(3), 1474704919860467. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474704919860467

75.

Zraly

Rubin

S. E.

Mukamana

(2013). Motherhood and resilience among Rwandan genocide–rape survivors. Ethos (Berkeley, Calif ), 41(4), 411–439. https://doi.org/10.1111/etho.12031.

Parental Well-Being: Another Dimension of Adult Well-Being

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References