Volume 22 - Article 21 | Pages 635–662  

Satisfaction with life as an antecedent of fertility: Partner + Happiness = Children?

By Nick Parr

Abstract

This paper examines the relationships between satisfaction with life in general, particular domains of life, the partner, and parental relationships with existing children, and subsequent fertility. The data are from 2,948 women and 2,622 men aged 15 to 44 years from a longitudinal survey of the household population in Australia. For both sexes a strong positive relationship between prior satisfaction with life and fertility two years later is found. Men’s satisfaction with their partner and with their partner’s relationship with existing children are positively related to fertility. Fertility is also related to age, parity, marital status, education, employment and birthplace.

Author's Affiliation

• Nick Parr - Macquarie University, Australia EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

A method for socially evaluating the effects of long-run demographic paths on living standards
Volume 31 - Article 11

The contribution of increases in family benefits to Australia’s early 21st-century fertility increase: An empirical analysis
Volume 25 - Article 6

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

A multidimensional global migration model for use in cohort-component population projections
Volume 51 - Article 11    | Keywords: age dependency, education, international migration, migration, modelling, population projection, projections

The short- and long-term determinants of fertility in Uruguay
Volume 51 - Article 10    | Keywords: fertility, panel data, stages of female reproductive life, time series, Uruguay

Predictive utility of key family planning indicators on dynamic contraceptive outcomes: Results from longitudinal surveys in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Uganda, and Côte d'Ivoire
Volume 50 - Article 45    | Keywords: contraception, contraceptive adoption, contraceptive discontinuation, contraceptive use, family planning, longitudinal data, methods, panel data, Performance and Monitoring for Action (PMA) surveys, sub-Saharan Africa

Are highly educated partners really more gender egalitarian? A couple-level analysis of social class differentials in attitudes and behaviors
Volume 50 - Article 34    | Keywords: attitudes, couple analysis, education, educational level, gender, gender roles, housework, social class differentials

The importance of education for understanding variability of dementia onset in the United States
Volume 50 - Article 26    | Keywords: dementia, education, lifespan variability, modal age, morbidity compression