--- title: Do Fathers Love Their Children Less Than Mothers Do? description: Moms report getting more happiness from their children whereas fathers ranked kids no higher than their career. Women in relationships got a happiness boost after... canonical: https://time.com/2859665/do-fathers-love-their-children-less-than-mothers-do/ author: Eric Barker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-14T04:01:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:54:14.784Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Do Fathers Love Their Children Less Than Mothers Do? og:description: Moms report getting more happiness from their children whereas fathers ranked kids no higher than their career. Women in relationships got a happiness boost after... og:url: https://time.com/2859665/do-fathers-love-their-children-less-than-mothers-do/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5aa04d11b3181fd/69869725cd68487a380952bc/167920677.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 167920677 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Do Fathers Love Their Children Less Than Mothers Do? twitter:description: Moms report getting more happiness from their children whereas fathers ranked kids no higher than their career. Women in relationships got a happiness boost after... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5aa04d11b3181fd/69869725cd68487a380952bc/167920677.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Do Fathers Love Their Children Less Than Mothers Do? by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Jun 14, 2014 4:01 AM UTC  Father with baby using cell phone Father with baby using cell phoneSam Edwards—Getty Images/OJO Images RF by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Jun 14, 2014 4:01 AM UTC Moms report getting more happiness from their children whereas fathers ranked kids no higher than their career. Women in relationships got a happiness boost after having children. Men only seemed to derive well-being from the relationship. For example, **a 1997 Pew Survey found that “ninty-three percent of mothers think their children are a source of happiness all or most of the time. Eighty-six percent of mothers of children under age eighteen say their relationship to their children is crucial to their personal happiness (10 on a 10-point scale).” On the other hand, for men, children often rank no higher than career as a source of happiness.** And: …Additionally, Kohler, Behrman and Skytthe identify a substantial and significant male-female difference in the effect of children on well-being—after controlling for the effect of a current partnership. **“Females derive happiness gains from children even after controlling for current partnership status. The happiness of males, however, depends primarily on partnership status; once current partnership is controlled, men’s happiness does not vary systematically with fertility.”** Source: “The New Battle of the Sexes: Understanding the Reversal of the Happiness Gender Gap” from Ave Maria University, Department of Economics, Working Papers, number 1004. **Join 25K+ readers.** Get a free weekly update via email [here](http://eepurl.com/o6uAD). Related posts: [What 10 things should you do every day to improve your life?](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/05/what-10-things-should-you-do-every-day-to-imp/) [What do people regret the most before they die?](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2011/12/what-do-people-regret-the-most-before-they-di/) [What five things can make sure you never stop growing and learning?](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/11/never-stop-growing-learning/) _This piece originally appeared on_ [_Barking Up the Wrong Tree_](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2859665/do-fathers-love-their-children-less-than-mothers-do/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2859665/do-fathers-love-their-children-less-than-mothers-do/"},"headline":"Do Fathers Love Their Children Less Than Mothers Do?","datePublished":"2014-06-14T04:01:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:54:14.784Z","description":"Moms report getting more happiness from their children whereas fathers ranked kids no higher than their career. Women in relationships got a happiness boost after...","url":"https://time.com/2859665/do-fathers-love-their-children-less-than-mothers-do/","keywords":["Parenting","Family","motherhood","Fatherhood"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5aa04d11b3181fd/69869725cd68487a380952bc/167920677.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Barker","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eric-barker/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5aa04d11b3181fd/69869725cd68487a380952bc/167920677.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"167920677","caption":"167920677","creditText":"Sam Edwards—Getty Images/OJO Images RF","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/parenting/","name":"Parenting"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2859665/do-fathers-love-their-children-less-than-mothers-do/","name":"Do Fathers Love Their Children Less Than Mothers Do?"}}]}] ```