Parenthood and life satisfaction. Russia in comparative perspective

The literature on life satisfaction trajectories during parenthood rests so far mainly on data from Western countries. This paper fills this gap by estimating the dynamics of life satisfaction associated with parenthood in Russia, a country which is different not only in terms of economic and historical factors, but also has a peculiar pattern of fertility and parenthood. We use the data of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey of HSE and fixed effects regression for panel data to estimate the dynamics of life satisfaction during parenthood, for men and women separately. We also investigate a range of potential moderating factors pointed out by the literature. The results demonstrate that in Russia the trajectory of life satisfaction during parenthood differs from the one observed in Western countries. In particular, the substantial and temporary positive effect of the first childbirth on life satisfaction of women is absent. Consistently with the literature, more educated men, and people in stable relationships enjoy parenthood more, and persons who enter parenthood at later ages are overall happier. However, we also find that persons with lower incomes and those living in rural areas experience stronger increase of life satisfaction at older ages of the child than those who are more wealthy and living in cities. This research is the first one to examine life satisfaction changes associated with parenthood in a country strikingly different from the Western European countries investigated previously. The results are consistent with some regularities known from the literature, but also show patterns previously not reported by the literature