Parenthood and life satisfaction in older age: examining the moderating role of social norms and economic vulnerability

Research on the relationship between parenthood and life satisfaction has revealed mixed results, with older parents reporting higher life satisfaction than older nonparents in some countries but not in others. This study investigates whether the link between parenthood and life satisfaction among individuals aged 60 years and older systematically varies across countries. Drawing on the theoretical premise that country-specific factors influence both the benefits of parenthood and the psychological costs of childlessness, the study examines the roles of pronatalist norms, filial elder-care norms, and the economic conditions of older individuals in shaping the life satisfaction gap between parents and nonparents. The study analyzes European Social Survey data on 114,513 individuals aged 60 years and older in 32 European countries using multilevel regression models. The results show that the life satisfaction gap between parents and nonparents is positively related to the strength of pronatalist norms and the level of economic vulnerability among older people. In contrast, elder-care norms are not uniformly linked to the magnitude of the life satisfaction gap. However, a particularly large life satisfaction gap was observed in countries with both high levels of economic vulnerability and strong elder-care norms. These findings suggest that the extent to which parenthood affects the life satisfaction of older individuals strongly depends on societal context.