Published: 2025-06-30

Children do not make you happy? – opinions of adults poles on parenting

Marta Luty-Michalak
Academic Journal of Sociology
Section: Articles
https://doi.org/10.21697/ucs.2025.35.1.06

Abstract

In countries such as Poland, where the fertility rate does not exceed its extremely low level (1.35), understanding how having children affects happiness and thus the emotional well-being of parents has great potential to explain procreative behaviour. This is, of course, only one of the factors determining fertility rates. Nevertheless, it is also interesting to examine whether having children influences opinions about parenthood and parental happiness. The aim of this article is therefore to analyse the relationship between having children, the number of children, plans for procreation, and opinions about parenthood. The empirical material for the analysis is part of a larger quantitative study, which was conducted under my and O. A. Kotowska-Wójcik supervision, in December 2024, on a representative sample of 1,226 adult Poles with the application the Ariadna National Research Panel using the CAWI technique. The results indicate that the fact of having children determines the perception of them as a source of happiness. The number of children and having procreation plans influenced opinions in this respect to a lesser extent.

Keywords:

opinions on parenting, happiness, children, procreation plans

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Citation rules

Luty-Michalak, M. (2025). Children do not make you happy? – opinions of adults poles on parenting. Academic Journal of Sociology, 35(1), 55–65. https://doi.org/10.21697/ucs.2025.35.1.06

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