The mental wellbeing of parents and the childless in a European context: The case of France and Sweden

Abstract: A growing number of individuals in Europe and other developed regions of the world are remaining childless throughout their life course. These individuals will lack major social and caring components relative to parents and likely have other needs and issues as they age and as the proportion of childless continues to grow. It has previously been shown that partnered individuals and parents’ live longer and healthier lives, but studies into the mental health of childless individuals have been inconclusive. In the present study I investigate the relationship between mental wellbeing and childlessness in France and Sweden. The mental wellbeing of the respondents was measured using a short-form of a depression scale. The result of the study showed that the effects of childlessness were affected by country of residence, gender, parental status as well as marital status. Further, a poor relationship to one’s children had a negative impact on mental wellbeing. Individual attitude towards childlessness did not have an effect on mental wellbeing however, and contrary to previous studies and the first hypothesis of this study, being childless did not have a negative effect on mental wellbeing. The results are limited by the nature of the sample, where a more complete measure of the depression scale would have been beneficial. Future research could further investigate the significance of positive family relationship compared to those with poor relationships and the childless. As the proportion of childless individuals continues to grow there will be ample research opportunities into their mental wellbeing.