Research suggests that parenthood results in mothers dedicating more time to child-rearing, causing higher stress levels than fathers. Engaging as playmates makes fathers happier.
Taipei, Taiwan (Business Northeast) – Have there been any noticeable shifts in your life since having children? Are you experiencing greater happiness or heightened levels of stress? According to research by Cornell University, becoming a parent will indeed increase the hardships of life, such as time and financial pressure, but it will also be accompanied by feelings of happiness and joy. It is a pity that because most mothers will take on more work of raising children, so mothers are much less happy than fathers. That is to say, after becoming parents, fathers usually feel happier, while mothers feel more stressed.
After the child is born, about a quarter of the proportion will suffer from postpartum depression. In addition to the physical and mental changes during pregnancy, it is mainly because it will enter another different stage. Life patterns, social activities, and working conditions will change with the baby’s birth. When you need to adapt to these changes, you will carry the trouble of childcare, so it is difficult to maintain a positive emotion, and sometimes it will cause friction in the family.
The study team of Cornell University wants to learn when they became a parent in addition to being busier if they felt joyful. Therefore, investigating heterosexual couples in the process of parenting to understand their overall feelings and satisfaction in the process, and explore the feelings of different parent work. Let us clearly understand that those jobs are more stressful, and those will increase their happiness.
The results of the study show that both fathers and mothers like playing with their children, and the least favorite things are cooking, feeding, washing dishes, and laundry, and these boring and tiring things are usually the mothers doing. Even though nearly 80% of mothers in the United States are working women, this status has not changed much. Therefore, relatively speaking, the mother does undertake the part of the parenting process that everyone feels is more difficult and does not want to do.
The part of parenting that plays with children is the least stressful and both parents like it the most. In terms of time, there is little difference in the amount of time fathers and mothers spend playing with their children. On average, fathers spend 11 minutes more per day than mothers. But in the work shared by fathers, playing with children is the largest proportion. In other words, the main job of the father is being the playmate, so he is happier and less stressed in raising children, which is naturally more interesting and happy than being a mother.
For mothers, the biggest burden is time pressure. The survey found that it is difficult for mothers to have enough exclusive time and rest time because they are often interrupted by their children. 27% of mothers said that their time would be interrupted at least twice a day by their children, and they had to be distracted to accompany or take care of them, unable to take a good rest or do the things they wanted to do. Only 14% of fathers will be interrupted by their children for a day. Relatively speaking, fathers are more able to have their own space.
In terms of sleep time, adult women need 27 minutes at night more than men to meet their physiological needs and maintain strength and health. But after the baby is born, it is extremely difficult for mothers to have enough sleep time. 16% of mothers will be woken up by their children more than three times after falling asleep, compared with 9% of fathers. In this situation, moms can barely get enough sleep, and they are often more tired and can’t stay focused during the day.
The survey also found that mothers are more likely to take care of their children alone than fathers, so they are under pressure to care for their children by themselves. More than 50% of mothers take care of their children alone. Although excluding single mothers there are 45% of mothers are single caregivers. When fathers take care of their children, they are usually accompanied by other adults. Only 30% of fathers will face their children alone.
From this study, it can be seen that when raising children, fathers are happier than mothers, and mothers are usually more tired than fathers. Although this conclusion may be slightly different in families with different divisions of labor, it is not difficult to see the heavy pressure, time crunch, lack of self-space, and insufficient rest time for mothers in the face of multiple roles.
Maybe spend some time caring for the mother or equally share some of the complicated chores of parenting, so that the mother can rest properly, they can enjoy a happy time with their children and family, and maintain a happy mood. This will not only reduce unnecessary conflict in living but also make the family atmosphere better.
