Reciprocal associations between parenthood and mental well-being – a prospective analysis from age 16 to 52 years

Abstract

Objective: The present study examines the bidirectional nature of the associations between parenthood and mental well-being using 36-year longitudinal data. Background: Mental well-being can affect if and when one becomes a parent (selection hypothesis), and the characteristics of parenthood can affect mental well-being (causation hypothesis). However, life course research has infrequently studied these hypotheses in parallel. Previous studies have also typically only focused on one aspect of parenthood (e.g., having children) and on the negative aspects of the mental well-being construct. Method: The participants in the Finnish ‘Stress, Development and Mental Health (TAM)’ cohort study were followed up at ages 16, 22, 32, 42, and 52 (N = 1160). The measures of parenthood (having children, timing of parenthood, and number of children) and mental well-being at ages 16 and 52 (depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and meaningfulness) were based on self-report. Results: For men, higher self-esteem in adolescence was associated with having children, and having children was associated with higher self-esteem in middle age. For women, depressive symptoms at age 16 were associated with becoming a parent at age 24 or younger. For both genders, having children was associated with a higher sense of meaningfulness in middle age. Conclusion: Studied within the life course perspective, our results indicate that parenthood has a positive effect on mental well-being in mid-adulthood even when accounting for selection effects.