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Children and Marital Happiness
Why the Negative Correlation?
LYNN K. WHITE
University of Nebraska—Lincoln
ALAN BOOTH
University of Nebraska—Lincoln
JOHN N. EDWARDS
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
This study examines the causal processes that lead to the widely observed negative association between presence of children and marital happiness. Using a nationwide panel of 1535 married individuals, we find support for two primary causal mechanisms. First, the presence of children is associated with differences in marital structure (lower interaction, more dissatisfaction with finances and the division of labor, and more traditionalism of the division of labor) that are, in turn, associated with lower marital happiness. We also find, however, that the relationship between marital happiness and children is partially spurious. The presence of preschoolers and especially the birth of a first child serve to reduce the likelihood that unhappily married people will divorce within a three-year period. As a result, a larger proportion of unhappily married people is retained temporarily in the parent population and thus contributes to the observed negative relation between presence of children and marital happiness.
Journal of Family Issues, Vol. 7, No. 2,
131-147 (1986)
DOI: 10.1177/019251386007002002
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