Parents less happy but more sense of meaning in life - study

But sociologists from the University of Cologne decided to check whether this is really the case. What they found was that parents do feel more meaningful in their lives, but... they don't feel happier.

Read more: Ansgar Hudde et al, Parenthood in Europe: Not More Life Satisfaction, but More Meaning in Life, Journal of Marriage and Family(2025). DOI: 10.1111/jomf.13116

The study involved more than 43,000 people from 30 European countries and was led by Dr Ansgar Hudde and Professor Marita Jakob. All participants answered two main questions: how satisfied they were with their lives and whether they considered their lives meaningful and worthwhile.

Less joy, more meaning

The results were unexpected: parents were more likely to say their lives were meaningful, but they did not feel happier than childless parents.

According to Hudde, conversations about parenthood are often reduced to the notion of happiness - and that's too narrow a view.

"Our work has shown: having children doesn't automatically make a person happy. But more often he feels that he is not living in vain," the scientist noted.

Everything depends on circumstances

Social conditions play an important role. For example, women with low income and education who have children feel less satisfied than their childless peers. But for men and women with high status there is no special difference in the level of happiness.

However, a sense of meaning in life is what unites parents in all countries and strata of society. Regardless of income and region, people with children are more likely to feel that their life is not just an existence, but something important.

Where is being a parent a high?

The Nordic countries are a special case. In Sweden, Norway and Finland, parenthood more often brings both happiness and a sense of meaning. The secret lies in public support: a developed system of kindergartens, financial assistance and well thought-out family policy. Germany, by the way, tried to follow the same path in the 2000s, but, according to researchers, this impetus has faded today.

Scientists are convinced that parenthood is not an exchange of happiness for meaning, and both aspects can be improved through policies that make life easier for families.

What happens after a child is born?

The team's follow-up work examines how life changes before and after having a baby. It turns out that life satisfaction does rise slightly with the birth of the firstborn, but then quickly falls back down. The sense of meaning, on the other hand, stays consistently high.

So parenthood may not always be a holiday, but it is definitely one of the most profound and meaningful forms of human experience.