The Happiness Penalty
Researchers reveal how a ‘happiness penalty’ for single parents is consistent across countries and through history.
Up to the 1990 s, most single parents in the Global North were either widowed or single mothers who had given birth out of wedlock.
Toward the widows and their orphans, society responded with compassion. The unmarried mothers were punished for their ‘immoral behavior’ with stigmatization.
Nowadays, single parenthood is more common. It’s often preceded by a union dissolution or divorce, or by a deliberate decision to start a family without a partner.
What has endured beyond the 1990s is that single parents are still more often mothers than fathers.
At the same time, little is known about the happiness levels of contemporary single parents. What confounds or mediates the association between happiness and single parenthood?
To find out researchers scrutinized the World Database of Happiness, an archive of research findings on subjective enjoyment of life that has been collecting scientific publications on happiness since 1980.
They found that single parents are, on average, worse off than other demographic groups. When compared to other parents, they’re worse off with almost no exception.
The data also revealed how a ‘happiness penalty’ for single parents emerges consistently across different countries and through historical times.
“Associations with single mothers’ happiness underscore the pivotal role of social ties and informal support,” write researchers in the Journal of Happiness Studies. “And while paid work and full-day childcare are positively associated with single mothers’ happiness, work-family conflict correlates negatively.”
The full article can be downloaded here or requested through your school or library using this citation: Elsas, S., Möhrle, T. & Veenhoven, R. Happiness and Single Parenthood: A Literature Review Using an Online Findings Archive. J Happiness Stud 27, 65 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-026-01030-6
D.L. Lee is the author of SISTERLY LOVE, a novel about two sisters who grow apart.
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