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Children and Dynamics of Life Satisfaction in Times of COVID-19
[working paper]
Corporate Editor
Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung (BIB)
Abstract We analyze data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, including a pre-pandemic baseline and seven survey waves between May 2020 and September 2021. Fixed effects panel regression models are run over more than 11,000 individuals, distinguishing among women and men with young children (< 5 years),... view more
We analyze data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, including a pre-pandemic baseline and seven survey waves between May 2020 and September 2021. Fixed effects panel regression models are run over more than 11,000 individuals, distinguishing among women and men with young children (< 5 years), older children (5-15 years), or no children in the household. We hypothesize that declines in life satisfaction during the first lockdown are sharper among parents, whose domestic demands increase, than among the childless. We develop competing hypotheses that parents might be resilient and have higher life satisfaction during the later phases (Adaptation Hypothesis) or that the pandemic stressors accumulate, leading to even lower satisfaction during (Accumulation Hypothesis). The results only support the Accumulation Hypothesis among mothers. Whereas mothers fared comparatively well during the first lockdown, further pandemic stressors have seemingly exhausted their resilience, leading to stronger declines during the winter 2020/2021 lockdown. Among men with older children and without children, life satisfaction decreased during the first and subsequent lockdowns. Men with young children were the only group with almost unchanged life satisfaction throughout the pandemic.... view less
Keywords
parenthood; childlessness; satisfaction with life; gender-specific factors; Great Britain
Classification
Family Sociology, Sociology of Sexual Behavior
Population Studies, Sociology of Population
Free Keywords
COVID-19; Corona-Pandemie; UK Household Longitudinal Study, waves 10 and 11, 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 and seven COVID-19 study waves (May 2020 - September 2021)
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
City
Wiesbaden
Page/Pages
23 p.
Series
BiB Working Paper, 8-2022
ISSN
2196-9574
Status
Published Version; reviewed