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How do new parents differ from their childless counterparts in social and psychological resources, daily strains, and psychological well-being? Using a nationally representative panel of 1,933 adults who were childless at the first interview, we compare 6 indicators of adults' lives for those who became parents and those remaining childless several years later, controlling for earlier states. Becoming a parent is both detrimental and rewarding. With the exception of social integration, which is greater for all groups of new parents compared with their childless counterparts, the effects of parental status on adults' lives vary markedly by gender and marital status. Unmarried parents report lower self-efficacy and higher depression than their childless counterparts. Married mothers' lives are marked by more housework and more marital conflict but less depression than their childless counterparts. Parental status has little influence on the lives of married men.
Key Words: depression, gender, marital status, self-concept, social integration, transition to parenthood.
Two convincing pictures of how children affect adults' lives can be painted: one with bright textures of joy, personal growth, and social benefits that children provide, and one with dark strokes that represent costs and problems they create (Bird, 1997; Umberson & Gove, 1989). Empirical studies have produced inconsistent findings. Some find parents are less happy or satisfied with their lives and more distressed and angry than nonparents (Barnett & Baruch, 1985; Glenn & McLanahan, 1982; Ross & Van Willigen, 1996), some find that there are no effects of children on adults' psychological distress (Baruch, Barnett, & Rivers, 1983; Cleary & Mechanic, 1983; Gore & Mangione, 1983; Wethington & Kessler, 1989), and others argue that under some conditions, parents may be better off than nonparents in terms of mental health (Bird; Kandel, Davis, & Raceis, 1985; Ross & Huber, 1985).
Despite mixed evidence, reviews of studies on the effect of children on adults' lives tend to conclude rather bleakly that having children is more costly than rewarding for adults in terms of daily strains, social relationships, and psychological well-being, especially for women and the unmarried, even though authors themselves suggest that there are not necessarily clear-cut findings in the empirical studies (e.g., see McLanahan & Adams, 1987; Ross, Mirowsky, & Goldsteen, 1990; Umberson & Williams, 1999). This is for good...