How does parenthood affect life satisfaction in Russia?

Abstract

The literature on life satisfaction dynamics during parenthood relies largely on data from Western countries. This paper tests if previously described empirical patterns and theoretical models are general by confronting them with estimates from Russia. We apply fixed effect regression for panel data to the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey data covering the period 1994–2015. We estimate the long-term dynamics of life satisfaction during parenthood and we investigate the moderating effect of age at first birth, income, and education. The results show that in Russia parental life satisfaction increases during a first birth, but the increase is stronger at a second birth. The effect of parenthood on life satisfaction is positive in the long run. Moreover, younger age at first birth temporarily (but not in the long run) suppresses the long-term positive effect of parenthood on life satisfaction. These results provide little support to the set-point theory of happiness, but are consistent with selection to parenthood and with the demands and rewards approach.

Introduction

Little is known about the relationship between parenthood and subjective well-being in the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe. This is unfortunate, because such analyses proved useful in explaining fertility patterns (Myrskylä & Margolis, 2014). Subjective well-being of parents may drive their fertility behavior: satisfactory transition to parenthood may encourage parents to have another child, and a difficult one may discourage it. Similarly, observing experiences of other parents may provide clues about one's preferred number of children and the preferred timing of own fertility.

Up to date, the evidence was restricted to a small group of Western countries, where long panel data were available. Previous studies analyzed the trajectories of parental life satisfaction in Germany (Baetschmann et al., 2012, Clark et al., 2008, Myrskylä and Margolis, 2014, Pollmann-Schult, 2014), United Kingdom (Clark and Georgellis, 2013, Myrskylä and Margolis, 2014), Switzerland (Anusic et al., 2014, Rizzi and Mikucka, 2015), and Australia (Frijters, Johnston, & Shields, 2011). The picture drawn by these studies is less relevant to situation in Eastern European countries, whose fertility patterns generally differ from the western one. This paper extends the evidence by estimating the effect of parenthood on subjective well-being in Russia.

Documenting the Russian pattern broadens and solidifies the understanding of the relationship between parenthood and happiness because Russian Federation differs from the (previously analyzed) Western countries in various aspects: it has a lower average standard of living, but undergoes a more dynamic economic development; it stands out with overall traditional gender roles, although the period of state socialism facilitated women's place in the labor market (Motiejunaite & Kravchenko, 2008). Russia is also described as a case of a partial second demographic transition (Gerber and Berman, 2010, Zakharov, 2008), which suggests that the determinants and consequences of fertility in Russia are different than in Western countries.

The reliance on a limited empirical evidence is a weakness of the literature on parenthood and life satisfaction, because researchers cannot know how general are the observed regularities and the theories explaining them. Do they refer to a universal part of human experience, or do they apply solely to the wealthy and stable countries of the Western world? By expanding the evidence to the Russian case, this analysis discusses how general are the current theoretical approaches, including as the set-point theory of happiness (Clark et al., 2008, Clark and Georgellis, 2013), the demands and rewards approach (Nomaguchi & Milkie, 2003), and the approach emphasizing selection to parenthood (Kravdal, 2014).