The Impact of Husbands’ Childcare Participation on Women’s Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from CFPS 2020 Data

Abstract

Against the dual background of boosting fertility and improving people’s livelihood well-being, this study explores how to enhance female subjective well-being by increasing husbands’ childcare participation in the stage of high-quality economic development. Using three waves of data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2016 to 2020, this paper empirically tests the impact of husband’s childcare on female well-being with the ordinary least squares (OLS) model. The results show that: (1) Husband’s childcare participation has a significant positive effect on female subjective well-being; (2) Female family decision-making empowerment plays a partial mediating role in this relationship. Specifically, husband’s childcare promotes female labor participation, changes their relative resource endowment within the family, and thus grants them more family decision-making power, which ultimately improves their well-being.