Although research finds that parents report greater depression than nonparents, we do not know whether the costs and benefits of parenthood for mental and physical health vary across parenting stages. Using the first wave of data from National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS; N = 2,730), we examine disparities in eight measures of mental and physical health between nonparents and parents whose youngest child is: (1) under 13, (2) 13 to 17, (3) 18 to 29, and (4) 30 years and older. Drawing on insights about stress, the life course, and the changing nature of the parental role, we hypothesize that the associations between parenthood and well-being are contingent on the parenting stage. Our analyses reveal some advantages associated with parenthood; we also find that parents whose children are 30 years and older report better mental and physical health than parents at all other stages. These results suggest that the costs and benefits of parenthood in the U.S. depend on the parenting stage.

中文翻译：

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在美国，父母为心理和身体健康而付出的成本和收益：育儿阶段的重要性

尽管研究发现父母报告的抑郁症要比非父母父母大，但我们不知道父母为父母的精神和身体健康所付出的成本和收益是否在育儿阶段有所不同。使用来自美国国家中年生活发展状况调查的第一波数据（MIDUS； N = 2,730），我们研究了八岁以下非父母与父母之间心理和身体健康状况的差异：（1）13岁以下（2）13至17岁，（3）18至29岁，以及（4）30岁以上。基于对压力，生活历程以及父母角色的变化性质的见解，我们假设父母身份与幸福感之间的联系取决于父母的养育阶段。我们的分析揭示了与父母身份有关的一些优势；我们还发现，孩子在30岁以上的父母的心理和身体健康状况比其他所有阶段的父母都要好。这些结果表明，美国育儿的成本和收益取决于育儿阶段。