Does it take a village to raise a child?

Abstract

The goal of this analysis was to investigate the buffering effect of family support during parenthood on the case of Switzerland. We expected that (1) family support in this period increases, and (2) it is positively related to life satisfaction: persons with high family support experience a more positive trajectory of life satisfaction in the period of parenthood than persons with lower family support. We used Swiss Household Panel data and a combination of statistical methods of fixed- effects models for panel data and cross-sectional regression. Overall, our results question the generality of the buffering mechanism. They also ques- tion the pivotal role of support from relatives in the period of parenthood in contemporary Switzerland. We find no evidence that the invisible net of family support is activated in the care intense stages of parenthood. Frequency of contact with relatives increases in this period, which however does not bring increased support nor clear positive consequences for parental life satisfaction. Our paper is the first one to explicitly investigate the buffering effect of family support during parenthood. It contributes to understanding the dynamics of family support and fer- tility in contemporary western countries