{"id":48238,"date":"2026-04-12T04:20:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T04:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=48238"},"modified":"2026-04-12T04:20:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T04:20:03","slug":"having-too-many-children-is-more-unfulfilling-than-having-none-at-all-researchers-find","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=48238","title":{"rendered":"Having too many children is more unfulfilling than having none at all, researchers find"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

By ZOE HARDY, HEALTH REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published:<\/span>

<\/p>\n

\n

Having too many children is more unfulfilling than having none at all, academics have discovered.<\/p>\n

Parents with more offspring than they wanted reported the lowest levels of life satisfaction in a survey of more than 23,000 adults.<\/span><\/p>\n

It comes as fertility<\/a> rates in Europe hit a record low \u2013 with British couples having just 1.4 children on average.<\/p>\n

Researchers at the University of Berlin<\/a> analysed data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study that asked participants how many children they had and how many they ideally wanted.<\/p>\n

They divided the cohort into five groups: those who were child-free by choice, those who wanted children but couldn’t have them, parents who had their ideal number of children, and those who had more or fewer than desired.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Participants then rated their overall life satisfaction, taking into consideration factors such as work-life balance and relationship status.<\/p>\n

Results showed almost everyone fell short of their fertility desires. But only one group experienced a clear decline in mental wellbeing \u2013 those who had more children than they had wanted.<\/p>\n

However, not having children \u2013 whether by choice or circumstance \u2013 was not linked to lower wellbeing.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Having too many children is more unfulfilling than having none at all, academics at the University of Berlin have discovered<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"Parents <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Parents with more offspring than they wanted reported the lowest levels of life satisfaction in a survey of more than 23,000 adults<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dr Laura Buchinger, the study’s lead author, said: ‘Exceeding one’s fertility desires was robustly linked to lower wellbeing in both women and men.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

The phenomenon is likely a result of the hidden costs of parenthood, the researchers suggested.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr Buchinger added: ‘Our results suggest that the stronger sociocultural expectations placed on women are offset by the heavier burdens of motherhood.<\/p>\n

‘By contrast, women without children have more time for career pursuits, financial independence, and the development of social networks and hobbies \u2013 all factors linked to healthy aging.’<\/p>\n

Previous research has connected motherhood with lower self-esteem and relationship satisfaction, due to the physical and emotional labour typically shouldered by women.<\/p>\n

Mothers are responsible for more than 70 per cent of household tasks, whereas fathers handle just 43 per cent, a 2025 study revealed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Share or comment on this article:
\n Having too many children is more unfulfilling than having none at all, researchers find<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/ad-slot><\/p>\n

<\/ad-slot><\/p><\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By ZOE HARDY, HEALTH REPORTER Published: 18:43 EDT, 11 April 2026 | Updated: 20:23 EDT, 11 April 2026 Having too many children is more unfulfilling than…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}