RESEARCH PAPER Marriage and Children as a Key to Happiness? Cross-National Differences in the Effects of Marital Status and Children on Well-Being Sofie Vanassche • Gray Swicegood • Koen Matthijs Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract This research examines the relationship between family structure and sub- jective well-being and the extent to which cultural differences across 24 countries/regions may condition that relationship. Using the 2002 ISSP data, we examine how the effects of marriage status and the presence of children on happiness and satisfaction with family life differ according to the perceived importance of marriage and parenthood in society. We find significant cross-country differences in the relationship between presence of young children and the happiness of men, and in the relationship between the marital status of women and their happiness and satisfaction with family life. Keywords Marriage Á Cohabitation Á Cross-national Á Subjective well-being Á Normative structure 1 Introduction While the married couple with children was once the dominant family model in Western societies, this ‘‘classical’’ family form now exists along side of single parents, remarried couples, unmarried partners living together, and voluntary singles. The nuclear family has lost its numerical and normative dominance (Corijn and Matthijs 2004). These remarkable changes in behaviours and norms have been linked to the long term trend of individuali- sation whereby people are increasingly free to choose lifestyle options according to their own needs and desires (Kuijsten 2002) without feeling ‘obligated’ to get married, to have children, or to spend their whole life with one partner. This transformation has been accompanied by widespread declines in average family size. Childbearing is frequently S. Vanassche (&) Á K. Matthijs Faculty of Social Sciences, Centre for Sociological Research, Parkstraat 45 (bus 3601), 3000 Leuven, Belgium e-mail: sofie.vanassche@soc.kuleuven.be G. Swicegood Department of Sociology, University of Illinois, 57 Computer applications building, 605 East Springfield Avenue, Champaign, IL 61820, USA 123 J Happiness Stud DOI 10.1007/s10902-012-9340-8