Abstract
This study examines the interaction effect of having children and a wife’s employment status on happiness using the Japanese panel data; it answers two research questions (RQs). RQ1: Who is happier, housewives or working wives? RQ2: What is the relative size of happiness of housewives without children, housewives with children, working wives without children, and working wives with children? Additionally, do these relationships change when considering the wife’s employment status (full-time, part-time, and self-employed) and having different work–life responsibilities? The study results have revealed three findings: (1) Housewives were happier than working wives, though unobserved fixed effects were considered; (2) housewives without children were the happiest, followed by working wives without children, housewives with children, and working wives with children, thereby suggesting that not all housewives are happier than working wives; and (3) full-time working wives without children were happier than housewives with children. These results revealed that children’s negative effects on wives’ happiness outweighed the impact of wives’ employment status. Moreover, these results are likely to be influenced by Japan’s current situation wherein the gender-based division of labor is robust, and the burden of housework and childcare relies on women alone.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Note that Lee and Ono (2008) use marital happiness as the dependent variable.
In Japan, there are studies investigating the relationship between employment and SWB in both men and women, but few studies investigate the impact of employment on SWB in women, especially married women.
http://www.ipss.go.jp/ps-katei/j/NSFJ6/Kohyo/NSFJ6_gaiyo.pdf (in Japanese).
We removed the sample of women in state such as “in temporary retirement,” “student,” and “other without occupation.” The proportion of women in these conditions is 3.01% of married women, and exclusion of these samples would have little effect.
JPSC also provides life satisfaction data. Although an analysis using life satisfaction as the dependent variable was conducted, the results were almost similar to that using happiness as the dependent variable.
Region block dummies include eight dummies, namely, Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu Okinawa. City size dummies are defined as Tokyo ward and ordinance-designated cities, other cities, and town.
“In temporary retirement” means “not working at present but able to return to the previous workplace”.
We checked the percentage change for the sample wherein the status of the participants changed from “being a housewife” to “a working wife” and vice versa. The percentage for the sample wherein the status changed from “being a housewife” to “a working wife” was 8.68%, and the percentage for the sample wherein the status changed being “a working wife” to “a housewife” was 13.54%. These results suggested that the percentage change between housewives and working wives is relatively small. However, the number of samples that have changed was 1000 or more and hence was sufficient for statistical analysis.
Educational backgrounds of husbands and wives are not used as independent variables for FE OLS because they are constant in the analysis period.
Women with strong preference for children may value raising children and decide to be housewives. Conversely, women with less preference for children may select working. Thus, the preference for children may affect the decision to work and bring bias to the estimation results. Nevertheless, it can be controlled to some extent by using an FE model because significant changes in preference for children are difficult to assume during the analysis period.
We also investigated the average amount of time spent on housework and childcare for each wife and husband. In all households, wives’ time spent on housework and childcare is much longer than that of husbands, regardless of wives’ employment status. Additionally, the time spent on housework and childcare significantly increases with the presence of children in households. This increase is more prevalent among wives. Therefore, these results confirm that wives mostly bear housework and childcare responsibilities in Japan.
Changes in happiness associated with changes in the employment status of wife are also examined. The result shows that the wife’s happiness increases when she becomes a housewife and decreases when she begins to work.
Changes in the wife’s happiness associated with childbirth are also examined. The result shows that the wife’s happiness decreases after childbirth, regardless of her working status.
The test of equality of coefficients between housewives without children and working wives without children based on Model (2) in Table 3 is conducted. The result shows that there are statistically significant differences at the 1% level between them. Similar test between working wives without children and housewives with children indicates statistically significant differences at the 5% level between them. These results suggest that there are significant differences among the coefficients of housewives without children, working wives without children, and housewives with children.
The tests of equality of coefficients between housewives with children and full-time working wives without children based on FE model in Table 4 show statistically significant differences at the 1% level.
In addition to these, estimation using the lag term of happiness was also determined. The estimation method was generalized method of moments (GMM) proposed by Arellano & Bond (1991). The result of Sargan test of overidentifying restrictions and Arellano–Bond test for zero autocorrelation in first-differenced errors indicated that it was appropriate to use 2 years lag term for the dependent variable. Therefore, we added a one- and two-year lag terms of happiness to the independent variable. However, this procedure significantly reduced the sample size from 22,479 to 12,851, suggesting a sample reduction of 43%. The result of GMM showed that most of the coefficients of wife’s working status and presence of children were not statistically significant. This result is different from the findings using FE OLS and RE ordered logit model. However, this result may be due to a significant reduction in samples and should be interpreted with caution.
The wife’s employment status and the presence of children may be affected by differences in household income. To check this possibility, we conducted the analysis excluding the household income from independent variables. The estimated results indicate that most of the coefficients estimated by FE OLS remain largely unchanged. Meanwhile, the magnitude of coefficients estimated by RE ordered logit slightly changes, whereas there is no change in most coefficients’ sign and significance level. These results suggest that the presence or absence of household income does not substantially change the estimation result, and the interaction effect of the wife’s employment status and the children is robust.
As for the marriage period, four dummy variables are added: under 4 years, 5–9 years, 10–14 years, and over 15 years (reference group).
The amount of savings and homeownership are used as household assets.
Regarding the age of the child, we used the following variables, namely, having 0 year old children, having children 1–3 years old, having children 4–6 years old, and having children over 7 years old or no child (reference group). In addition, the number of children is constructed, including having less than 1 child (reference group), having 2 children, and having more than 3 children.
References
Allen, T. D., Herst, D. E. L., Bruck, C. S., & Sutton, M. (2000). Consequences associated with work-to-family conflict: A review and agenda for future research. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(2), 278–308. https://doi.org/10.1037//1076-8998.5.2.278
Angeles, L. (2010). Children and life satisfaction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11(4), 523–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-009-9168-z
Arellano, M., & Bond, S. (1991). Some tests of specification for panel data: Monte Carlo evidence and an application to employment equations. Review of Economic Studies, 58(2), 277–297. https://doi.org/10.2307/2297968
Argyle, M. (2001). The psychology of happiness. Routledge.
Balbo, N., & Arpino, B. (2016). The role of family orientations in shaping the effect of fertility on subjective well-being. Demography, 53(4), 955–978. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-016-0480-z
Bașlevent, C., & Kirmanoğlu, H. (2017). Gender inequality in Europe and the life satisfaction of working and non-working women. Journal of Happiness Studies, 18(1), 107–124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-016-9719-z
Beja, E. L., Jr. (2014). Who is happier: Housewife or working wife? Applied Research Quality Life, 9(2), 157–177. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-013-9235-9
Berger, E. M. (2013). Happy working mothers? Investigating the effect of maternal employment on life satisfaction. Economica, 80(317), 23–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0335.2012.00932.x
Blanchflower, D. G., & Oswald, A. J. (2004). Well-being over time in Britain and the USA. Journal of Public Economics, 88(7–8), 1359–1386. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2727(02)00168-8
Booth, A. L., & van Ours, J. C. (2008). Job satisfaction and family happiness: The part-time work puzzle. The Economic Journal, 118(526), F77–F99. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2007.02117.x
Booth, A. L., & van Ours, J. C. (2009). Hours of work and gender identity: Does part-time work make the family happier? Economica, 76(301), 176–196. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0335.2007.00670.x
Clark, A. E. (1997). Job satisfaction and gender: Why are women so happy at work? Labor Economics, 4(4), 341–372. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-5371(97)00010-9
Clark, A. E. (2005). What makes a good job?—Evidence from OECD countries. In S. Bazen, C. Lucifora, & W. Salverda (Eds.), Job quality and employer behaviour (pp. 11–30). Palgrave Macmillan.
Clark, A. E., Diener, E., Georgellis, Y., & Lucas, R. E. (2008). Lags and leads in life satisfaction: A test of the baseline hypothesis. The Economic Journal, 118(529), 222–243. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2008.02150.x
Craig, L., & Mullan, K. (2013). Parental leisure time: A gender comparison in five countries. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society, 20(3), 329–357. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxt002
Crompton, R., & Lyonette, C. (2006). Work-life ‘balance’ in Europe. Acta Sociologica, 49(4), 379–393. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699306071680
Ferree, M. M. (1976a). The confused American housewife. Psychology Today, 10(4), 76–80.
Ferree, M. M. (1976b). Working class jobs: Housework and paid work as sources of satisfaction. Social Problems, 23(4), 431–441.
Frey, B., & Stutzer, A. (2002). The economics of happiness. World Economic, 3(1), 1–17.
Frijters, P., Johnston, D. W., & Shields, M. A. (2011). Life satisfaction dynamics with quarterly life event data. The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 113(1), 190–211. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9442.2010.01638.x
Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office (2019). Women and men in Japan 2019. Tokyo. http://www.gender.go.jp/english_contents/pr_act/pub/pamphlet/women-and-men19/.
Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office (2020). Women and men in Japan 2020. Tokyo. http://www.gender.go.jp/english_contents/pr_act/pub/pamphlet/women-and-men20/.
Grözinger, G., Matiaske, W., & Tobsch, V. (2008). Arbeitszeitwu¨nsche, Arbeitslosigkeit und Arbeitszeitpolitik, SOEP Papers, No. 103, DIW Berlin.
Hamplová, D. (2019). Does work make mothers happy? Journal of Happiness Studies, 20(2), 471–497. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-9958-2
Hansen, T. (2012). Parenthood and happiness: A review of folk theories versus empirical evidence. Social Indicators Research, 108(1), 29–64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-011-9865-y
Hara, H., (2016). Glass ceilings or sticky floors? An analysis of the gender wage gap across the wage distribution in Japan. RIETI Discussion Paper Series 16-E-099
Holly, S., & Mohnen, A. (2012). Impact of working hours on work–life balance. SOEP Papers, No. 465, DIW Berlin. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2135453
Keizer, R., Dykstra, P. A., & Poortman, A.-R. (2010). The transition to parenthood and well-being: The impact of partner status and work hour transitions. Journal of Family Psychology, 24(4), 429–438. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020414
Kohler, H.-P., Behrman, J. R., & Skytthe, A. (2005). Partner + children = happiness? An assessment of the effect of fertility and partnerships on subjective well-being in Danish twins. Population and Development Review, 31(3), 407–445. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2005.00078.x
Lee, K. S., & Ono, H. (2008). Specialization and happiness in marriage: A U.S.–Japan comparison. Social Science Research, 37(4), 1216–1234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2008.02.005
Lundberg, S. J., Pollak, R. A., & Wales, T. J. (1997). Do husbands and wives pool their resources? Evidence from the United Kingdom Child Benefit. Journal of Human Resources, 32(3), 463–480. https://doi.org/10.2307/146179
Margolis, R., & Myrskylä, M. (2011). A global perspective on happiness and fertility. Population and Development Review, 37(1), 29–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2011.00389.x
Mattingly, M. J., & Bianchi, S. M. (2003). Gender differences in the quantity and quality of free time: The US experience. Social Forces, 81(3), 999–1030. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2003.0036
McLanahan, S., & Adams, J. (1987). Parenthood and psychological well-being. Annual Review of Sociology, 13(1), 237–257. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.13.080187.001321
Morrison, R. L. (2009). Are women tending and befriending in the workplace? Gender differences in the relationship between workplace friendships and organizational outcomes. Sex Roles, 60(1–2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9513-4
Myrskylä, M., & Margolis, R. (2014). Happiness: Before and after the kids. Demography, 51, 843–1866. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-014-0321-x
Nelson, S. K., Kushlev, K., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2014). The pains and pleasures of parenting: When, why and how is parenthood associated with more or less well-being? Psychological Bulletin, 140(3), 846–895. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035444
Nomaguchi, K. M. (2012). Parenthood and psychological well-being: Clarifying the role of child age and parent–child relationship quality. Social Science Research, 41(2), 489–498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2011.08.001
Nomaguchi, K. M., & Milkie, M. A. (2003). Costs and rewards of children: The effects of becoming a parent on adults’ lives. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65(2), 356–374. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2003.00356.x
Nye, F. I. (1963). Personal satisfactions. In F. I. Nye & L. Hoffman (Eds.), The employed mother in America (pp. 320–330). Rand McNally.
Pollmann-Schult, M. (2014). Parenthood and life satisfaction: Why don’t children make people happy? Journal of Marriage and Family, 76(2), 319–336. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12095
Radó, M. K. (2019). Tracking the effects of parenthood on subjective well-being: Evidence from Hungary. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(6), 2069–2094. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00166-y
Reynolds, J., & Aletraris, L. (2006). Pursuing preferences: The creation and resolution of work hour mismatches. American Sociological Review, 71(4), 618–638. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100405
Rogers, S. J., & DeBoer, D. D. (2001). Changes in wives’ income: Effects on marital happiness, psychological well-being, and the risk of divorce. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63(2), 458–472. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00458.x
Shiraishi, S., & Shiraishi, S. (2007). Female happiness decision factor related with child care: A non-linear panel analysis. ESRI Discussion Paper Series No.181.
Stanca, L. (2012). Suffer the little children: Measuring the effects of parenthood on well-being worldwide. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 81(3), 742–750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2010.12.019
Trappe, H., Pollmann-Schult, M., & Christian Schmitt, M. (2015). The Rise and decline of the male breadwinner model: Institutional underpinnings and future expectations. European Sociological Review, 31(2), 230–242. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcv015
Treas, J., Lippe, V. D., & ChloeTai, T. (2011). The happy homemaker? Married women’s well-being in cross-national perspective. Social Forces, 90(1), 111–132. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/90.1.111
Ugur, Z. B. (2020). Does having children bring life satisfaction in Europe? Journal of Happiness Studies, 21, 1385–1406. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00135-5
Umberson, D., Pudrovska, T., & Reczek, C. (2010). Parenthood, childlessness, and well-being: A life course perspective. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(3), 612–629. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00721.x
Wooden, M., Warren, D., & Drago, R. (2009). Working time mismatch and subjective well-being. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 47(1), 147–179. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2008.00705.x
Wunder, C., & Heineck, G. (2013). Working time preferences, hours mismatch and well-being of couples: Are there spillovers? Labour Economics, 24, 244–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2013.09.002
Zhou, Y. (2015). Career interruption of Japanese women: Why is it so hard to balance work and childcare? Japan Labor Review, 12(2), 106–123.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank two anonymous referees, Junji Kageyama, Emiko Teramura, and Risa Hagiwara for their constructive comments. Data from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers was provided by the Panel Data Research Center at Keio University.
Funding
This work was supported by JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) in Japan (17KT0037).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical Approval
This study follows the ethical standard of the Journal of Happiness Studies.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Appendix
See Table
7.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sato, K. Who is Happier in Japan, a Housewife or Working Wife?. J Happiness Stud 23, 509–533 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00411-3
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00411-3