Highlights
Print Post- Don’t listen to proudly and deliberately childless couples: Children are good for marriage and for society. Tweet This
- Among Americans ages 18 to 55, married adults with children are the happiest. Tweet This
- Prioritizing family-friendly policies is a pivotal step toward a sustainable demographic future for the United States. Tweet This
Several TikTok videos about DINKs have gone viral recently. They feature self-described DINK (double-income, no kids) couples, proudly talking about their child-free and carefree life, which includes spontaneous vacations and “snobby hobbies like skiing and golfing.”
While we respect their personal choices, the underlining message these types of videos are sending is troubling. Essentially, the message is that marriages are better without children and children are a big time drain and financial burden.
This is misleading. Among Americans ages 18 to 55 (the group who are most likely to have young children at home), married adults with children are the happiest. Nearly four in ten married parents (37 percent) say they are very happy with their lives, compared with 27 percent of married, childless adults (the happiness level among unmarried adults is much lower), according to the 2022 General Social Survey. When it comes to marital quality, married parents also have an advantage over their childless peers: 63 percent of married parents are very happy about their marriage, compared with 57 percent of married and childless couples.
Even in the 18-to-34 age group, to which the featured TikTok couples appear to belong, married couples with children are far more likely than their childless peers to say they are very happy with their lives (43 percent vs. 30 percent).
Continue reading at National Review . . .
