Multidimensionality of the life course, spillover effects, and well-being: How do parenthood and personality affect changes in domain-specific satisfaction?

While widely recognized as important determinants of well-being, spillover effects across life domains after a critical event or transition are largely understudied in a truly longitudinal perspective. Specifically, little is known about how becoming a parent produces variations in subjective well-being in other life domains. By adopting a life-course perspective, we contributed to such questions by examining trajectories of life, job, and leisure satisfaction before and after first childbirth by gender and personality. Drawing on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP; 1984–2013), we show that the shape of life and leisure satisfaction trajectories after birth subtly differ for men and women. Moreover, job satisfaction drops significantly shortly before childbirth only for women, rising again after the 1st year after childbirth. Personality moderates some of these relationships. Our results indicate that spillovers across life domains and their impact on well-being should be addressed in a longitudinal and multidisciplinary perspective.