‘Kinlessness’, social connectedness, and subjective wellbeing in Europe

Marco Tosi, University of Padua
Thijs van den Broek, Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management

This study examines the association between family structure and subjective wellbeing, by focusing on the moderating effect of social connectedness. We compare middle-aged and older adults across four family types: those with both a partner and children, those with a partner but not children, those with children but not partner, and those without partner and children (‘kinless’). We use data from five waves of European Social Survey (2012-2020) and estimate ordered logistic regression models on the odds of having high levels of happiness and life satisfaction in 35 European countries. The results show that middle-aged and older adults who lack partners exhibit lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction compared to partnered individuals, while the absence of children is not associated with these outcomes. The wellbeing disadvantage of unpartnered men diminishes according to their level of social connectedness, and such moderating effect is driven by those living in Northern and Western European countries. The results lend support to the mitigation hypothesis, indicating that the negative impact of having no partners and no children on subjective wellbeing is weaker for people who are more strongly connected with social relationships in less family-centered countries.

Keywords: Older Adults and Intergenerational Relations, Families, Unions and Households, Population Ageing, Health and Morbidity

See extended abstract.