Pacific Standard recently published an article titled “Parenthood is More Likely to Make You Happy if You Are a Man” by Tom Jacobs. I first saw the article re-published on The Week and titled “Why are Fathers Happier than Mothers?” The popularity of this topic shows how relevant it is to working parents. These conclusions align with the work-family conflict meta-analysis, Equal Opportunity in Work and Family Solutions, recently covered on this site.
The Pacific Standard article shared the results of a research study that appeared in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin that also used a meta-analytic approach – including data from a large representative survey of 13,000 Americans; a community sample of 472 Americans; and an additional survey of nearly 5,000 parents.
This research appears to have had a broader focus on fathers versus mothers rather than a focus on working parents in particular. However, the results are similar – fathers get more satisfaction from parenthood than mothers. This difference could be due to unequal distribution of family and home responsibilities and/ or different expectations and feelings of responsibility.
This type of research is important for understanding the differences between men and women and how work and family get balanced. As a society, we need all people to have an opportunity to contribute and share their talents – without an extra burden or penalty due to gender.
