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INFLUENCE OF CHILDREN, EMPLOYMENT, AND PARTNERSHIP ON

WOMEN’S HAPPINESS

Master thesis, MSc. in Human Resource Management at the university of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business

June 14, 2012

Mariëtte J.E. Bakker Student number: s1580280

Address: Oosterstraat 27b 9711 NP Groningen Tel.: +31 (0) 646286392 E-mail: m.j.e.bakker@student.rug.nl

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Table of content

Abstract 3

I. Introduction 4

II. Literature review 7

2.1. What is happiness? 7

2.2. Dynamic of categories of employment, having children and the age of the children 8

2.2.1. The effect of having children on women’s happiness 9 2.2.2. The effect of different categories of employment on women’s happiness 10 2.2.3. The effect of having a partner on women’s happiness 11 2.2.4. The effect of different categories of employment and having children on women’s

happiness 11

3.2.5. The effect of children and having a partner on happiness 13 3.2.6. The effect of children, employment and having a partner on happiness 14

2.3. The relationship model 15

III. Data and Method 16

3.1. Data and sample 16

3.2. Measuring happiness 17

3.3. Measuring the different employment, children and partnership categories 17

3.4 Control variables 19

3.4. Regression analysis 19

IV. Results 20

4.1. Descriptive statistics and correlations 20

4.2. Hypotheses testing 21

V. Discussion and conclusion 30

5.1. Summary of the findings 30

5.2. Research question 30

5.3. Theoretical implication 31

5.4. Strengths and limitations 32

5.5. Practical implications and conclusion 32

References 34

Appendix: 38

Appendix 1: SPSS output descriptive statistics 38

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Abstract

This study compares how children, employment and partnership influence women’s happiness. In the last century the percentage of women working outside of the home has greatly increased. Is this because of the financial rewards or because it makes them happier? Are working mothers happier than stay-at-home mothers? Is full-time work and having children a recipe for women’s unhappiness? The following research question has been formulated: What is the influence of having children and the type of employment on the happiness of women when the age of possible children and having a partner are taken into account? To answer this research question different hypotheses have been formulated. To test the hypotheses, empirical data was obtained from the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social sciences (LISS) panel. This panel is administered by CentERdata (Tilburg University, the Netherlands). The results of this study suggest that children generally make women happy. Women’s level of happiness increases when they have a small part-time job, but this effect disappears when children are taken into account. Their level of happiness also increases when they have children under the age of four years living at home but the level of happiness decreases as the children grow older. Having children who are not living at home also reduces their effect on women’s happiness. In addition, having a partner has a strong positive effect on the happiness of women. The study also showed that, for mothers, the various types of employment (working full-time, small part-time, large part-time, staying at home by choice, and involuntarily staying at home) and categories of children (under the age of 4, between 4-12 years old, above the age of 4-12, and having children who do not live at home) had no effect on the happiness of mothers.

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I. Introduction

People continuously pursue happiness. But what makes people happy? According to Layard (2011), there are the ‘Big seven factors affecting happiness’ (further called the ‘Big seven’):

family relationships, financial situation, work, community and friends, health, personal freedom, and personal values. But what is the effect of children on the ‘Big seven’ for

women? Children bring joy (a source of happiness), but can also drain the scarce resources of time and money (White, Booth & Edwards, 1986; Wright, 1978). Only the first five of the 'Big seven' are discussed in this study because they are the most important (Layard, 2011). They will serve as key elements throughout the paper to investigate in what way the combinations of working, having children and having a partner affects the happiness of women.

Research has accumulated ample evidence demonstrating the beneficial consequences of happiness (Cohn et al., 2009; Layard, 2011; Scoppa & Ponzo, 2008; Trzcinski & Holst, 2003). People who have a higher level of happiness in life achieve better outcomes, including financial success, supportive relationships, mental health, and effective interaction. It even has positive effects on physical health and the chance of living longer. Health may, in addition, be both a cause of happiness and a result of happiness, demonstrating a mutual effect (Cohn, Fredrickson, Brown, Mikels & Conway, 2009).

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It has been confirmed that having a partner has a positive relationship on happiness (Dalon et al., 2008; Ferrer-i-Cardonell & Frijters, 2004; Fugl-Meyer, Melin & Fugl-Meyer, 2002; Layard, 2011; Stack & Eshleman, 1998). Having a partner is also included in what Layard (2011) calls family relationships in the ‘Big seven’.

In the last century the percentage of women participating in the Dutch labour force has increased significantly (Portegijs, Cloïn, Keuzenkamp, Steenvoorden & Merens, 2008). According to various studies, work contributes to the happiness of women (Booth & Ours, 2008, 2009, 20010; Layard, 2011; Pouwels, 2011) and being unemployed decreases the level of happiness (Dolan et al., 2008). A higher level of education and higher earnings make it more attractive for women to work, even when they have children. The emergence of 'new work', where employees have more flexible working hours, and telecommunication have made it easier to balance work and life (Pouwels, 2011). The increase in the number of women who participate in the Dutch labour force, especially women who have children , has increased the demand for childcare, flexible working arrangements and equality in the workplace between men and women (Fine-Davis et al., 2004).

The question arises whether the combination of women having children and working leads to a happy life. Women, like all people, have only a certain amount of time which they must divide among work, partner, friends, sports, etc. If they ultimately choose to have children, they must decide how their time will have to be rearranged to accommodate the fact that children are very time consuming. Working mothers, compared to working women without children, often have extra pressure: dress small children, drop of and pick up from day-care, cook dinner, change diapers, etc. Therefore, it could be that working mothers are happier when their children are older and need less care (Jol, 1999), for then they have more leisure time to spend on relationships and other aspects in life. As mentioned before, work,

community and friends, and family relationships lead to happiness (Layard, 2011), but when

women decide to have children they must make concessions regarding the redistribution of their time. Will this redistribution be at the expense of community and friends or will they choose to work less?

It is expected that when women find the right balance in their time and money, with regard to children, a partner and work, it be expected that they are happier. For this reason I came up with the following research question (see Appendix 1): What is the influence of

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To answer the main research question, I developed the following sub-questions, which will be translated into hypotheses in the Literature review section:

- Do children make women happy?

- How do the different types of employment affect the happiness of women? - How does the age of children affect the happiness of women?

- What is the effect on happiness when a woman combines work and children? - How does having a partner affect the answers to the above-mentioned questions?

The theoretical contribution of this paper will be for women to see how to combine working, having children, and having a partner. The added value of this research is to illustrate what the effect would be of the different types of employment, having a partner and children on the happiness of women. However, it should not be seen as a kind of intervention since, for example, not all women are just financially able to choose a part-time job instead of full-time work nor can all women can have children.

An increasing amount of research on the antecedents of happiness has recently started to develop. Theoretical efforts have usually focussed either on the effect of work satisfaction on happiness or what generally makes people happy. Trzcinski and Holst (2003) have already made the link between the type of employment, having children and happiness in Germany. Moreover, studies conducted by Booth and Ours (2008, 2010) find that mothers who work part-time have the highest level of life satisfaction compared with mothers with different contracts and no children. As far as I can discover, the effect of work, having children, the age of the potential children and having a partner has not yet been investigated through the use of the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social sciences (LISS) panel, which consists of 5000 Dutch households (see the Methodology section of this paper).

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II. Literature review

In the following section I will introduce the essential theoretical literature upon which this research is based. First, the concept of happiness and life satisfaction and the underlying principle of this research will be presented. Second, the variables mentioned in the research question will be discussed. Third, the mutual effects of the variables will be described with the resulting hypothesis of this research. Finally, the relationship model based on the research question presented in the introduction will be presented.

2.1. What is happiness?

High levels of mental and physical health lead to happiness; happy people are more likely to have a higher self-control, self-regulation, and coping abilities. Happy people also have a stronger immune system, which can eventually lead to a longer life. It also appears that happy people tend to be more cooperative, people-oriented, humanitarian and more centered on others instead of themselves (Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, & Schkade, 2005).

Affect is a general term covering a wide range of feelings that people experience, such as emotions and moods. Emotions are intense feelings that generally focus on some event or someone. Moods are less intense feelings and generally lack a contextual stimulus. Happiness in this case can be seen as a mood because it is not necessarily focused on someone or some event, but is more of a general feeling that has formed over a longer period (Robbins & Judge, 2012).

Many different definitions of happiness and life satisfaction can be found in the literature. The one which will be used in this paper is from Layard (2011) who describes (un-) happiness in life as: “…feeling good – enjoying life and wanting the feeling to be maintained.

By unhappiness I mean feeling bad and wishing things were different” (p. 12). Layard also

mentions that happiness is a feeling that occurs constantly during a period of time. Different moments in life can leave you either with positive or negative memories and these experiences will affect your actions in the future, but for measuring happiness researchers need to determine the person’s average happiness over a longer period of time.

Subjective Well-Being (SWB) is a term that encompasses life satisfaction and happiness in the following definition: “…a broad category of phenomena that includes people's

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(Diemer, 1999, p. 277). SWB should be measured on the long-term including pleasant and unpleasant affects. The similarities in the definitions of happiness and SWB are that they both indicate that the effect must be measured over a longer period and that positive and negative affects should be included (Diemer, 1999; Layard, 2011).

According to Campbell (1976), there can be a distinction made between happiness that has an affective structure and satisfaction that has a cognitive construction. Crooker and Near (1998) have concluded that the use of happiness and satisfaction in their research has led to similar results. If a distinction could really be made between the affective and cognitive component of happiness and satisfaction then the results should show more variance. These findings are confirmed by Alber et al. (2003) who measured the life satisfaction and happiness of European citizens. In general, people who rate themselves as satisfied in life also rate themselves as happy. In the article they found a high correlation between satisfaction and happiness.

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2.2.1. The effect of having children on women’s happiness

In general, people in the Netherlands with children living at home are happier and more satisfied with their life than people without children (Beuningen & Kloosterman, 2011). But Pouwels (2011) has found that there is an inverted U-curve visible in happiness during motherhood. The level of happiness increased during pregnancy and there is a peak in happiness between birth and the first year of the child’s life. This is followed again by a declining level of happiness. Working mothers with an oldest or only child under four years old are happier than working mothers with children up to twelve years old. Working mothers, in general, are happier than housewives (Jol, 1999). Another study indicates that women with children aged from three to four years old are the least happy (Booth & Ours, 2008). Different researches confirm that children make women happy. Although this effect decreases over time (Layard, 2011; Trzcinski & Holst, 2003; Jol, 1999), it increases when the children go to school (Booth & Ours, 2007). There are also differences in the levels of happiness depending on whether or not the children live at home. People in the Netherlands with children living at home are happier and more satisfied with their life than people with children living somewhere else (Beuningen & Kloosterman, 2011; Jol, 1999).

On the other hand, there are also studies that came to the conclusion that the well-being effect of children is absent (Gleen & McLanahan, 1981) or even can be seen as negative (Ferrer-i-Cardonell & Frijters, 2004; Veenhoven, 1984). Gleen and McLanahan (1981, p.419) close their research with the following sentences: “… the present young adults should not

decide to have children on the basis of expectations that parenthood will lead to psychological rewards in the later stages of life. The prospects for such rewards seem rather dim, at best.”

This contradiction leads to the question: When do children make women happy and

when do they not? After reading the different articles I expect that children make people

happy but the consequences that come along with having children make people less happy. After including the effects of employment and partnership I hope to find an answer to the above question. I predict that children have a positive influence on the happiness of women and that the age of the possible children and whether or not they are living at home will also affect the happiness of women:

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Hypothesis 1b: The happiness of women is more positively affected by having children

if their youngest child living at home is above the age of four (! 4 years) compared to women whose youngest child at home is under the age of four (<4 years).

Hypothesis 1c: The happiness of women is more positively affected by having children

if the children are living at home compared with women whose children are not living at home.

2.2.2. The effect of different categories of employment on women’s happiness

Becoming unemployed decreases happiness, because of the loss of income and the loss of the work itself (Layard, 2011). Life satisfaction is lowest for British women without work (whether by choice or involuntarily) or when they work very few hours. Women are more satisfied when they have more than fifteen hours work per week, but the hours of work should not be for more than forty hours per week (Booth & Ours, 2008). In Australia (2009) and in the Netherlands (2010) they conducted similar research and concluded that happiness was reduced when women worked over 40 hours a week. They also concluded that: “Partnered

female part-time labor in the Netherlands is here to stay” (Booth & Ours, 2010, p.16). It is

also confirmed by van der Meer and Wielers (2013) that part-time working employees are happier than full-time working employees.

Together the above-mentioned research explains the level of women’s happiness in relation to their number of working hours (Booth & Ours, 2008, 2009, 2010). Another research investigated whether switching from full-time work to part-time work, and vice versa, changes happiness of women in Germany and the UK (Gash et al., 2010). This research measured the impact of changes in working hours and what the impact is on women's satisfaction by using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and the British Household Panel (BHPS). They conclude that women who switch from full-time work to part-time work increase their level happiness, because they are better able to balance work and life. This better life and work balance seems to be more important for women than the potential decrease in happiness caused by the reduction in income that comes with working part-time instead of full-time. Therefore, I predict that women prefer a work and life balance that involves more leisure time above longer working days and the resulting extra income because this extra time makes them happier than extra income does.

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part-time are the happiest, and finally that women who involuntarily do not work are the least happy:

Hypothesis 2a: Women who work less than 35 hours per week are happier than women

who work 35 or more hours per week.

Hypothesis 2b: Women who have a small part-time job are happier than women who

have a large part-time job

Hypothesis 2c: Women who are housewives by choice are happier than women who are

housewives involuntarily.

2.2.3. The effect of having a partner on women’s happiness

In 2004 a survey was taken of a simple random sample consisting in total of 1491 Dutch women and men between the ages of 20-65 (Cloin & Wennekers, 2004). The survey found that, in general, women with a partner are happier than women who live alone, regardless of whether or not they have children and/or work. The only exception is women who work full-time and live alone without children. Moreover, other studies confirmed that women in a relationship are happier than singles (Ferrer-i-Cardonell & Frijters, 2004; Fugl-Meyer, Melin & Fugl-Meyer, 2002; Layard, 2011; Stack & Eshleman, 1998). Men and women who have a partner reported a higher level of happiness compared with those without a partner, but men obtained more happiness from having a partner compared to women (Kohler et al., 2005).

Based on the research discussed above, I predict that having a partner has a positive influence on women’s happiness:

Hypothesis 3: Women’s happiness is positively affected by having a partner.

2.2.4. The effect of different categories of employment and having children on women’s happiness

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satisfaction in life compared to housewives and full-time working mothers. They also found that mothers who work full-time had the lowest levels of life satisfaction (Trzcinski & Holst, 2003). It is expected that this is the result of an imbalance in work and life because working full-time means too much time is spent on work and not enough is spent on the other aspects of life.

In an article by Bakker, Dollard and Demerouti (2008) they mention that men and women with children and jobs experience more Family-Work Conflict (FWC). By FWC they mean “…the role pressure at home interfering with function at work” (p. 902). FWC often leads to Work-Family Conflicts (WFC) and this means “…a situation in which role pressures

at work hamper functioning at home” (p. 902). Work-Family conflict is a negative predictor

for both work and general life satisfaction, and vice versa. Family problems that are the result of high job demand may lead to stress.

Research among working mothers showed that work-family conflicts also affect mood. Women often take home a bad mood from their work. Organizations are increasingly aware of their employees’ work-family problems and are trying to remedy these, for example, by establishing flexible working hours (Ilies, Wilson & Wagner, 2009; Sulsky & Smith, 2005). Erza (1996) concluded that fathers were more satisfied with the balance between work and family than mothers were. When men and women had no children there was no difference in their levels of satisfaction regarding work and family balance. When the parents had a flexible work schedule they were more satisfied with their work and life balance. In a separate regression they found that mothers in particular were more satisfied if they had a flexible work schedule.

Moreover, according to Wright (1978), there is an increased risk of role conflict when women combine a job and children, due to the increased demand for their time at home. Even in the most successful cases, the role of mother and the role of employee interfere with one another. This role conflict is generally due to the scarce resource of the woman’s time. Few women with a job, especially if they have a partner in combination with children, are entirely free from taking care of the household and the children. Therefore, it is also expected that mothers with younger children who work are less happy than mothers with older children because of the amount of time it takes to care for a young child. When children become older they go to school and the mother gets some free time back that she can spend on working or leisure time.

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woman, leisure time or money? It can be assumed that women with greater financial resources are happier with children because it is easier for them to find the balance between caring for children, leisure time, and work because they can easily work fewer hours a week or outsource the childcare to a third party, such as a day-care professional or babysitters. Therefore, it is expected that children will have a direct negative effect on work, one of the ‘Big seven’ determinant of happiness described by Layard (2011), because women increase their happiness when they increase their working hours (Dolan et al., 2008). Having children often results in a reduction in the number of working hours, which also has a negative effect on the financial situation, so it can be assumed that children will also have an indirect negative effect on this. Beside the indirect effect of children on the financial situation, there is also a direct effect, namely, the costs involved in their care.

I predict that the different types of employment affect the happiness of mothers. Further, I predict that mothers who work part-time are happier and that mothers who involuntarily do not work are the least happy. The age of the children will also have an effect on women’s happiness. I predict that mothers of younger children will be less happy than mothers of older children:

Hypothesis 4a: Mothers with a small part-time job are happier than mothers in the

other employment categories.

Hypothesis 4b: The happiness of mothers whose youngest child living at home is over

the age of four is more positively affected by having a small part-time job compared to the other employment categories.

Hypothesis 4c: The happiness of mothers whose youngest child living at home is over

the age of four is more positively affected by having a large part-time job compared to the other employment categories.

Hypothesis 4d: Mothers who are housewives by choice are happier than mothers who

are housewives involuntarily3.3.5. The effect of children and having a partner on happiness.

3.2.5. The effect of children and having a partner on happiness

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is associated with considerable costs. Having a child seems to be essential to the happiness of most women. Whether or not women have a partner, being childless remains relatively rare, even in today's industrialized countries with low fertility (Kohler et al., 2005). A research study done in the UK and Germany on women in partnerships indicates that a child increases the happiness of German women, but decreases the happiness of women in the UK. This difference between the countries may come from the continuing importance of the work and life balance, in this case, primarily in the UK (Gash et al., 2010).

Because of the overwhelming evidence that having a partner is associated with higher levels of happiness (Cloin & Wennekers, 2004; Ferrer-i-Cardonell & Frijters, 2004; Fugl-Meyer, Melin & Fugl-Fugl-Meyer, 2002; Kohler et al., 2005; Layard, 2011; Stack & Eshleman, 1998), it is expected that having children and being in a partnership (family relationship) will have a positive effect on happiness. This may be because it is possible to share the time that it takes to care for children and/or the positive influence of the possible extra income (Bakker et al., 2008; Kohler et al., 2005; Wright, 1978). For this reason, I predict that mothers who have a partner are happier than mothers without a partner. I also predict that mothers with children under the age of 12 living at home are even happier with a partner because of the help with childcare they receive:

Hypothesis 5a: Mothers’ happiness is positively affected by having a partner.

Hypothesis 5b: The happiness of mothers with children under the age of 12 (<12

years) living at home is more positively affected by having a partner compared to mothers in the same situation but with older children.

3.2.6. The effect of children, employment and having a partner on happiness

Based on the research discussed above, it can be assumed that the combination of the different categories of employment, having children, the age of the possible children, and having a partner will have an effect on women’s happiness. For that reason, I formulate the following overarching hypotheses which, in the end, will answer the research question of this paper.

Hypothesis 6a: Mothers with children above the age of four (!4 years) living at home,

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Hypothesis 6b: The happiness of mothers with a large part-time job and a partner is

negatively affected if theiryoungest child living at home is under the age of four (<4 years) compared to mothers in the same situation with older children living at home.

2.3. The relationship model

Figure 1: Relationship model

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III. Data and Method

In the following section I will introduce the data and methodology of this research. First, the data and the sampling method will be presented. Second, I will explain how happiness and the independent variables, employment, partnership and children, will be measured. Finally, the control variables of this research and the regression analyses will be explained.

3.1. Data and sample

To test the hypotheses, empirical data was obtained from the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social sciences (LISS) panel. This panel is administered by CentERdata (Tilburg University, the Netherlands). The LISS panel can be describes as: “The participants

completed questionnaires via the Internet and so contributed scientific research. The LISS panel is a representative sample of Dutch individuals who participate in monthly Internet surveys. The panel is based on a true probability sample of 5000 households drawn from the population register. Households that could not otherwise participate are provided with a computer and Internet connection. A longitudinal survey is fielded in the panel every year, covering a large variety of domains including work, education, income, housing, time use, political views, values and personality” (www.lisdata.nl).

After registration it is possible to download the data from different questionnaires and different years from their website. This research will be conceptual, because it uses one questionnaire from one year and one wave, namely, wave 1 from 2008. The following modules will be used: Background variables, Health, Family and Household, Work and schooling, Personality, and Income. By using the unique number assigned to each respondent it is possible to combine all modules into one data set to do the actual measurement.

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Participants in the overall study were on average 45.06 years old (SD=10.87). The average education level was intermediate vocational education (SD=1.51). The average number of working hours in 2007 in a week was 26.05 (SD=10.31), the average personal gross monthly income was 1,206.56 Euro (SD=6,406.25) and the average amount of children the women have is 1.7 (SD=1.23) (All SPSS outputs are attached in Appendix 2).

3.2. Measuring happiness

Happiness/ life satisfaction is operationalized as the global assessment of positive and negative feelings in life over a longer period (Layard, 2011). Crooker and Near (1998) have concluded that the use of happiness and satisfaction in their research has led to similar results. This study will therefore use a combination of the two questions used to calculate the general happiness. The happiness/life satisfaction of the respondents is measured with the following questions from the LISS core study (www.lisdata.nl): “On the whole, how happy would you say you are?” (Personality module: cp08a010), and “How satisfied are you with the life you lead at the moment?” (Personality module: cp08a011). All questions were framed positively, so they do not need to be recoded in SPSS. For happiness/ life satisfaction (!= .91) the Cronbach’s alpha is larger than ! = .70, so the consistency is high between the items that make up the scale. All items were drawn from published scales, a ten-point scale from 1 “not

at all satisfied” to 10 “completely satisfied” and a scale from 1 “totally unhappy” to 10

“totally happy”. To measure happiness the mean will be taken of both questions for each respondent.

3.3. Measuring the different employment, children and partnership categories

The independent variable, employment category, children and their age and partnership, are all measured with the following questions from the LISS core study (www.lisdata.nl):

Employment category: Employment will be divided into several categories because

existing research (Booth & Ours, 2007; Jol, 1999; Trzcinski & Holst, 2003; Scoppa & Ponzo, 2008) already indicate the effect on happiness of different categories of employment. Employment is divided into the following categories:

1) Housewives who do not work by choice, and thus choose to stay at home to take care of the household.

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3) Working women with small part-time jobs, who usually work less than fifteen hours per week at their main job.

4) Working women with large part-time jobs, who usually work between fifteen and thirty-two hours per week at their main job.

5) Women working full-time, that is, women who usually work thirty-two hours per week or more at their main job.

Work status is measure by the following questions: “Primary occupation” (Work and schooling module: cw08a525), “How many hours per week are (were) you employed in your (last) job, according to your employment contract?” (Work and schooling module:

cw08a126). All questions were framed positively, so they do not need to be recoded in SPSS. Children and their age: Having children and the age of these possible children is

divided into the following categories:

1) Women who have children and those who do not, for whatever reason. 2) Mothers whose youngest or only child is under 4 years old and lives at home. 3) Mothers whose youngest or only child is between 4-12 years old and lives at home. 4) Mothers whose youngest or only child is 12 years old or older and lives at home. 5) Mothers of one or more children who do not live at home.

These categories are based on different age groups because children of different ages need child-care adapted to their age. Children under four years of age are completely dependent on care from parents or other caretakers. Children between 4 and12 years of age need less care than the younger group because they have made the transition to elementary school. The fact that they are occupied during schools hours decreases their demand for care. And finally, in the Netherlands at twelve years of age children make the transition from elementary to secondary school. Children in this age group are more independent and therefore need less care (Jol, 1999). There is also some evidence that the level of happiness of mothers is different depending on whether their children are living at home or not (Jol, 1999). This is measured by the following questions: “Birth year of 1-15 children” (Family and Household module: cf08a037-51), “Living at home or living independently: 1-15 children” (Family and Household module: cf08a083-97). All questions were framed positively, so they do not need to be recoded in SPSS.

Partnership A final distinction is made between women who have a partner and those

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question: “Do you currently have a partner?” (Family and Household module: cf08a024). This question was answered by the participants with either a ‘1 = yes’ or ‘2 = no’.

3.4 Control variables

Aside from the above-mentioned independent variables, during the research some control variables, which may influence the happiness of the respondents, will also be taken into account. These are also measured by using questions from the LISS core study (www.lisdata.nl). These variable include: age (Background variables 2008: leeftijd), education level (Background variables 2008: opleiding) and age2 (Background variables 2008: leeftijd kwadraat). Based on the previously mentioned ‘Big seven factors’ affecting happiness described by Layard (2011), the following control variables will be also included: “How satisfied are you with your financial situation? (Income module: ci08a006), “How satisfied are you with the amount of leisure time that you have?” (Social integration and leisure module: cs08a001), “How satisfied are you with your social contacts?” (Social integration and leisure module: cs08a283) and “How would you describe your health, generally speaking?” (Health module: ch07a004).

3.4. Regression analysis

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IV. Results

In this section the results of this research will be discussed. I will start by explaining the descriptive statistics and correlations of the different variables of this research. Finally, the results of the regression analysis will be discussed regarding whether or not they support the hypotheses.

4.1. Descriptive statistics and correlations

The sizes of the various groups that were formed by the categorization based on whether or not they had work, children and/or a partner can be found in Appendix 1. The means, standard deviations, and Pearson correlations of the variables are displayed in Table 1 for the women in general and in Table 2 for mothers.

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(r = .44, p < .01), social contacts (r = .01, n.s.), financial situation (r = .00, n.s.), health (r = -.01, n.s.), and staying involuntarily at home (r = .03, n.s.).

Age also has a significant relationship with almost all variables except happiness (r = -.01, n.s.), satisfaction with social contacts (r = .04, n.s.), staying involuntarily at home (r = .03, n.s.), working at a small part-time job (r = .02, n.s.), and having a partner (r = .01, n.s.). It was expected that there would be a causal influence of having work on the satisfaction with the financial situation, but it turns out that there was no relationship between having a small part-time job (r = .01, n.s.), a large part-time job (r = .03, n.s.) or a full-time job (r = .02, n.s.) and the level of satisfaction with the financial situation. There was a causal influence of full-time work on the different children categories: no children (r = .44, p < .01), no children at home (r = -.12, p < .01), youngest child older than 12 years old and living at home (r = -.09, p < .01), youngest child between 4 and12 years of age and living at home (r = -.13, p < .01), and youngest child younger than 4 years old and living at home (r = -.14, p < .01). Additionally, having a large or a small part-time job has in general a positive significant relationship with the different categories of children living at home, except for having a youngest or only child under the age of 4 (r = -.04, n.s.).

Comparing the correlation table of the women in general (Table 1) with the table of the mothers (Table 2) it is clear that most of the significant relationships between variables in both tables match. It is noticeable that the correlations for mothers are usually smaller than those for women in general. Between the different variables within the categories, such as employment and children, the differences in size of the correlation are small.

4.2. Hypotheses testing

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 1. Happiness 7.70 1.24 2. Age 45.06 10.87 -.01 3. Age ^ 2 2148.73 989.97 -.01 .99** 4. Level of education 3.75 1.51 -.01 -.26** -.26** 5. Social contacts 7.32 1.65 .40** .04 .05* -.04 6. Financial situation 6.76 1.76 .32** .13** .13** .09** .21** 7. Leisure time 6.90 2.19 .22** .21** .22** -.18** .36** .14** 8. Health 3.16 0.73 .24** -.11** -.11** .15** .15** .21** .02 9. No children 0.23 0.42 -.05* -.34** -.31** .18** -.01 -.00 -.06** -.01 10. Children not at home 0.24 0.43

.01 .65** .68** -.24** .06** .06** .17** -.08** -.31** 11. Children >12 years old 0.20 0.40 -.02 .20** .16** -.08** .01 0.01 .03 -.03 -.27** -.28** 12. Children 4-12 years old 0.19 0.39 .00 -.18** -.21** .04* -.04 -.05* -.06** .03 -.26** -.28** -.24** 13. Children <4 years old

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Table 2: Means (M), standard deviation (SD) and Pearson correlation of the variables: Mothers group M SD 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 1. Happiness 7.73 1.23 2. Age 47.05 10.10 -.03 3. Age ^ 2 2315.84 954.62 -.03 .99** 4. Level of education 3.61 1.51 .01 -.22** -.23** 5. Social contacts 7.33 1.66 .40** .05* .05* -.04 6. Financial situation 6.76 1.76 .31** .13** .13** .09** .21** 7. Leisure time 6.97 2.18 .21** .22** .23** -.18** .35** .14** 8. Health 3.16 0.73 .23** -.12** -.12** .15** .15** .22** .03 9. Children not at home

0.00 0.00 -.01 .70** .73** -.22** .07** .08** .19** -.10** 10. Children >12 years old

0.31 0.46 -.04 .14** .10** -.04 .00 .02 .02 -.04 -.40** 11. Children 4-12 years old

0.26 0.44 -.02 -.34** -.36** .11** -.04 -.06* -.09** .04 -.38** -.34** 12. Children <4 years old

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different models when the different variables were included into the model. For the group of women in general, model 1 with the control variables was, of course, significant (F = 75.22, p < .01). Model two, in which the different employment categories were included, was also significant (F = 49.13, p < .05); this was also the case for the different children categories (F = 37.01, p < .01) and partnership categories (F = 37.40, p < .01). Therefore, each variable that was included had a significant influence on women’s happiness. For the group with only mothers the significance F change shows other results when different variables are included into the model. Including only the control variables it was significant (F = 57.00, p < .01) and this was also the case for the partnership categories (F = 28.98, p < .01), but it was not the case for the different employment (F = 36.71, n.s.) and children (F = 29.27, n.s.) categories. Initially, age2 was also included in the regression, but because its effect on the other variables was negligible I have chosen to delete this variable from the regression analysis. Below the actual hypothesis testing will be discussed.

Children: To determine whether or not children affect women’s happiness some dummy

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having children who do not live at home (b = -.290, p < .05) has a negative significant relationship on women’s happiness. Therefore, hypothesis 1c is confirmed.

Employment: To examine whether or not the different employment categories have an

effect on women’s happiness dummy variables for the regression analysis have been used. In this case, having full-time work was the reference variable. From the analysis results, it seems that two of the different employment categories influence women’s happiness; having a small part-time job (b = .331, p < .01) and having a large part-time job (b = -.169, p < .05) have a positive significant relationship with happiness. But when the different children categories are included in the model the positive effect of the employment categories disappears; having a small part-time job (b = .218, n.s.) and having a large part-time job (b = .067, n.s.) no longer have a significant relationship with happiness. For this reason, hypotheses 2a and 2b can be

partly confirmed. Finally, a comparison has been made between women who stay at home

involuntarily (b = -.167, n.s.) and those who stay at home by choice (b = .170, n.s.). Since there is no significant relationship between these categories and women’s happiness,

hypothesis 2c must be rejected.

Partnership: Partnership has also been taken into account in this research and having a

partner was in this case the reference variable. From the regression analysis results it seems that not being in a relationship (b = -.465, p < .01) has a negative significant relationship with women’s happiness. Therefore, it can be concluded that being in a partnership leads to a higher degree of happiness. For this reason hypothesis 3 is confirmed.

Children and employment: A similar analysis as under ‘Employment’ is done here, but

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Table 3. Regression coefficients in women group: Happiness

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4

B SE B SE B SE B SE Intercept 3.722** 0.503 3.844** 0.513 4.089** 0.577 3.855** 0.014 Age 0.019 0.021 0.011 0.022 0.010 0.025 0.004 0.017 Health 0.266** 0.038 0.266** 0.038 0.253** 0.038 0.253** 0.194 Education -0.033 0.019 -0.027 0.019 -0.029 0.019 -0.025 0.129 Financial situation 0.159** 0.016 0.157** 0.016 0.157** 0.016 0.147** 0.082 Leisure time 0.040** 0.014 0.035* 0.014 0.040** 0.014 0.040** 0.014 Social contacts 0.224** 0.018 0.221** 0.018 0.222** 0.018 0.220** 0.017 Not working voluntary 0.170 0.087 0.037 0.097 -0.043 0.097 Not working involuntary -0.167 0.195 -0.236 0.195 -0.248 0.194 Small part-time 0.331** 0.124 0.218 0.130 0.146 0.129 Large part-time 0.169* 0.076 0.067 0.082 0.017 0.082

Full-time Reference Reference Reference

No children -0.343** 0.101 -0.252* 0.101 No children at home -0.290* 0.134 -0.298* 0.133 Age above 12 -0.285* 0.114 -0.280* 0.113 Age 4-12 -0.185 0.101 -0.154 0.100 Age under 4 Reference Reference In partnership 0.465** 0.081 Adj. R2 .237 .240 .244 .258 SE .000 .000 .000 .000 F 75.219 49.125 37.007 37.401 Sig. F Change .000 .022 .017 .000 N 2210 2210 2210 2210

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Table 4. Regression coefficients in mother group: Happiness

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4

B SE B SE B SE B SE Intercept 4.706** 0.672 4.557** 0.7 3.583** 0.83 3.639** .824 Age -0.012 0.028 -0.01 0.029 0.038 0.036 .019 .036 Health 0.233** 0.042 0.236** 0.042 0.229** 0.043 .228** .042 Education -0.017 0.021 -0.014 0.021 -0.021 0.021 -.016 .021 Financial situation 0.141** 0.018 0.14** 0.018 0.138** 0.018 .127** .018 Leisure time 0.044** 0.015 0.038* 0.016 0.042** 0.016 .044** .016 Social contacts 0.226** 0.02 0.224** 0.02 0.224** 0.02 .218** .020 Not working voluntary 0.144 0.116 0.107 0.119 .024 .119 Not working involuntary 0.055 0.242 0.033 0.242 .008 .240 Small part-time 0.311* 0.145 0.299* 0.146 .226 .146 Large part-time 0.129 0.108 0.101 0.109 .050 .109

Full-time Reference Reference Reference

No children at home -0.306 0.172 -.281 .171 Age above 12 -0.33* 0.148 -.290* .147 Age 4-12 -0.226* 0.113 -.173 .113 Age under 4 Reference Reference In partnership .478** .110 Adj. R2 .233 .233 .235 .245 SE .000 .000 .000 .000 F 56.963 36.707 29.271 28.973 Sig. F Change .000 .310 .152 .000 N 1704 1704 1704 1704

For the next hypothesis a similar analysis is done, only in this case having a large part-time job was the dummy variable. This analysis also confirmed the expectation, because having a large part-time job (b = -.01, n.s.) and having a youngest child over the age of four (b = -.09, n.s.) do not have a significant relationship with mother’s happiness. Therefore, hypothesis 4c

can also be rejected based on these results. Finally, a comparison has been made between

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mothers’ happiness. As there was no significant relationship, hypothesis 4d can also be

rejected.

Children and partnership: For testing hypothesis 5a a similar analysis has been done as

under ‘Partnership’ only here the women without children have been excluded. Having a partner was the reference variable and the results of the analysis indicate that not being in a partnership (b = -.478, p < .001) has a negative significant relationship with mothers’ happiness. Thus, it can be concluded that being in a partnership also influences a mothers’ happiness and hypothesis 5a can be confirmed. For the next hypothesis a separate regression was needed in which children under the age of twelve living at home was a dummy variable as was having a partner. It can be conclude that the different children categories do not influence mothers’ happiness, because the category of children under 12 years old (b = .128, n.s.) has no significant relationship with happiness. Between being in partnership (b = .50, p < .01) and mothers’ happiness there was a significant relationship. After including the age category (F = 47.71, n.s.) in the model there was no significant relationship with mothers’ happiness. For that reason hypothesis 5b can be rejected.

Children, employment and partnership: Finally all variables discussed above have been

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Table 5. Summary of hypothesis testing

Hypotheses Confirmation

Hypothesis 1a: Women’s happiness is positively affected by having children.

Hypothesis 1b: The happiness of women is more positively affected by having children if

their youngest child living at home is above the age of four (! 4 years) compared to women whose youngest child at home is under the age of four (<4 years).

Hypothesis 1c: The happiness of women is more positively affected by having children if

the children are living at home compared with women whose children are not living at home.

Confirmed Rejected

Confirmed

Hypothesis 2a: Women who work less than 35 hours per week are happier than women

who work 35 or more hours per week.

Hypothesis 2b: Women who have a small part-time job are happier than women who have

a large part-time job

Hypothesis 2c: Women who are housewives by choice are happier than women who are

housewives involuntarily.

Confirmed Confirmed Rejected

Hypothesis 3: Women’s happiness is positively affected by having a partner. Confirmed

Hypothesis 4a: Mothers with a small part-time job are happier than mothers in the other

employment categories.

Hypothesis 4b: The happiness of mothers whose youngest child living at home is over the

age of four is more positively affected by having a small part-time job compared to the other employment categories.

Hypothesis 4c: The happiness of mothers whose youngest child living at home is over the

age of four is more positively affected by having a large part-time job compared to the other employment categories.

Hypothesis 4d: Mothers who are housewives by choice are happier than mothers who are

housewives involuntarily3.3.5. The effect of children and having a partner on happiness.

Confirmed Rejected

Rejected

Rejected

Hypothesis 5a: Mothers’ happiness is positively affected by having a partner.

Hypothesis 5b: The happiness of mothers with children under the age of 12 (<12 years)

living at home is more positively affected by having a partner compared to mothers in the same situation but with older children.

Confirmed Rejected

Hypothesis 6a: Mothers with children above the age of four (!4 years) living at home, a

small part-time job and a partner are happier than mothers in the same situation without a partner.

Hypothesis 6b: The happiness of mothers with a large part-time job and a partner is

negatively affected if theiryoungest child living at home is under the age of four (<4 years) compared to mothers in the same situation with older children living at home.

Rejected

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V. Discussion and conclusion

The purpose of this research was to discover what the influence is of the different children, employment, and partnership categories on women’s happiness.

5.1. Summary of the findings

Before answering the research question there will be a short summary of the findings from the analysis. Table 5 shows which hypotheses are confirmed and which are rejected. There will be one conclusion for women in general and a separate conclusion for the women with children, the mothers.

Women: Having a youngest or only child under the age of four makes women most happy

compared to other age categories and this is true whether or not the children are living at home. When the youngest or only child becomes older the positive effect on happiness of having children decreases. Having children who do not live at home has a negative effect on women’s happiness. Women with a small part-time job, according to the analysis, have a higher level of happiness as long as they do not have children; when children are taken into account, the positive effect of having a small part-time job disappears. Finally, having a partner has a strong positive effect on women’s happiness.

Mothers: The research shows that children themselves make mothers happy, and because

in this analysis only the mothers are included, some previously mentioned effects disappear. It can be concluded that the different employment and children categories have no influence on the happiness of mothers. Having a partner has a strong positive effect on the happiness of mothers. This effect is even a little larger than the positive effect of partnership has for women in general. It should be noted that staying at home involuntarily has a negative, but not significant, effect on the mothers’ happiness. This effect disappears when children are included in the model, and the effect is even smaller when partnership is included. This suggests that mothers with a partner are less unhappy about staying at home involuntarily, probably because they are happier now due to something other than work.

5.2. Research question

As mentioned in the introduction, the research question is: What is the influence of having

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The research question can be answered briefly by saying that: Children generally make women happy. Women increase their level of happiness when they have a small part-time job, but this effect disappears when children are taken into account. Women also increase their level of happiness when they have children under the age of four years living at home, but that the level of happiness decreases as the children grow older. Further, having children who are not living at home reduces the positive effect of having children. In addition, having a partner has a strong positive effect on the happiness of women and especially mothers. The study showed further that the various employment and children categories had no effect on the happiness of mothers.

Not all of the results were as expected. Initially, it was expected that for mothers the different employment and children categories would have an effect on happiness, because having children and working are both time consuming. For that reason I thought that working fewer hours and having older children, who would need less care, would increase the level of happiness. This was not the case. This study shows that having children is enough to increase the happiness of women, because when children are present, women are happier no matter what job they have or how old their children are.

5.3. Theoretical implication

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Finally, different studies conclude that having a partner has a positive effect on women’s happiness (Ferrer-i-Cardonell & Frijters, 2004; Fugl-Meyer, Melin & Fugl-Meyer, 2002; Layard, 2011; Stack & Eshleman, 1998); this is confirmed in this study for both women in general and for women with children. The positive effect on happiness of having a partner is for mothers a little larger than it has for women in general. One reason may be that mothers who have no partner are often divorced. Moreover, existing research, such as that by Layard (2011), concludes that being divorced has a strong negative effect on people’s happiness.

5.4. Strengths and limitations

The first strength of this research is the fact that 2210 women between the ages of 25 and 65 years participated in the LISS panel. Therefore, the results of this research are generalizable for other women of the same age in the Netherlands. Second, although previous research studies have been conducted regarding the effects of children, work, and having a partner on women’s happiness separately, the combination of these variables I have examined using the LISS panel is unique combination. Therefore it is a valuable addition to the studies about happiness.

The first limitation of this research is also related to the LISS panel. Since this research is based on an existing dataset is was not possible to formulate the research question first and then make a questionnaire to investigate the research question. For this study I had to do it the other way around; I had to formulate my research question based on the questions that were included in the LISS panel. Second, during the analyses that only included mothers the sample sizes of the various employment and children categories become very small and this could also be a reason that no significant relationships were found.

5.5. Practical implications and conclusion

People will always pursue happiness, and with this study I have confirmed that having children and a partner improves women’s happiness. Several studies have showed contradictory results on whether or not having children makes women happy. This research can be added to the list of studies that show that children actually do make women happy. It is difficult to make recommendations based on these results, for example, for the government, because you can hardly encourage women to have children or look for a partner.

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Appendix: Appendix 1: SPSS output descriptive statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

Age 2210 25 65 45.06 10.872 Age ^ 2 2210 625.00 4225.00 2148.7335 989.97046 Education level 2210 1 9 3.75 1.505 Health 1978 1 5 3.16 .727 Leisure time 2149 0 10 6.90 2.186 Social contacts 2138 0 10 7.32 1.653 Financial situation 1892 0 10 6.76 1.755 Amount of children 2210 0 9 1.70 1.232

Personal gross monthly income

2210 -13 230356 1206.56 6406.250

Working hours 2117 0 100 26.05 10.314

Appendix 2: Group size formation employment categories

Frequency

Involuntary do not work 49

Voluntary do not work 623

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