According to a study, the age at which you have your first kid may have an impact on your long-term health and happiness. It turns out that 29 is the ideal age.
Researchers have discovered that people who have children later in life make more money than those who become parents earlier, such as in their early twenties.
Additionally, young parents report poorer mental and physical health as well as lower academic achievement.
The study, “Congratulations, it’s a risk factor!” discovered that wealth and health rose with the later a person had their first kid, with the advantages peaking at age 30.
Author Jordan MacDonald told PsyPost, “The findings show that the younger a person becomes a parent, the more likely they are to experience long-term challenges, including not finishing high school, reporting poorer health, and having lower income throughout the lifespan.”
“Teen and young fathers and teen and young mothers showed similar patterns.”
“Based on the findings of the present study, the ideal age [to have your first child] is between 26 and 31,” the researchers wrote in the journal Plos One.
Income, education, and self-rated physical and mental health seem to be stable during this time.
The researchers discovered that people who had their first kid around the age of 29 were most likely to live in a family earning at least 125,000 Canadian dollars (£67,000).
Later in life, those who became parents in their teens or early twenties reported worse physical health; however, this effect was less pronounced for those who postponed parenting.
The University of New Brunswick’s researchers examined data on 6,282 adults with children for the study.
They gathered data on each participant’s life outcomes and determined the precise age at when their first child was born.
Analysis revealed a strong correlation between educational attainment and the age at which persons became parents.
The likelihood of completing post-secondary education, such as attending university, grew quickly with the age of first-time motherhood.
Delaying having children also related to a considerable rise in the likelihood of earning a higher income, which peaked between the ages of 26 and 31.
Additionally, the researchers discovered that people who had their first kid around the age of 29 had the highest likelihood of living in a home earning at least 125,000 Canadian dollars (£67,000).
The likelihood of achieving the highest income category gradually decreased after this age.
Later in life, those who had children in their teens or early twenties reported worse physical health; however, this unfavourable correlation was lessened for those who postponed motherhood, stabilising around age 26.
According to the study, the likelihood of long-term difficulties increases with a person’s age at parenthood.
The data also showed a strong correlation between schooling and the age at which people became parents.
Overall, the researchers found that older first-time parents had marginally higher mental health.
However, the age at which a person became a parent did not appear to affect their level of life satisfaction.
According to the authors, this research supports the liminality theory, which postulates that a person’s psychological growth may stagnate when they become a parent during a time of transition.
This could explain why people may become “stuck” in this stage of life if they have their first kid during “key” times like graduating from high school or moving out of their parents’ house.
The researchers warned that their findings do not imply that young or adolescent parents cannot achieve success.
According to Mr. MacDonald, “they mean that success may become much more difficult without support.”
Teenagers and young parents are not “doomed to fail,” regardless of how they became parents or whether others agree with their circumstances.
“But if the people and institutions around them do not offer support, they may face much greater barriers.”
The average age of first-time moms in England and Wales is currently 29.4, according to government statistics.
Experts at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) predict that women will probably continue to have children later in life and in smaller families than in earlier generations.
In contrast to their mothers’ generation, which had an average of one child per woman by the time they were 31, girls who turned 18 in 2025 are expected to have an average of one child per woman by the age of 35, according to the ONS.
Additionally, it is predicted that they will have an average of 1.52 children throughout the course of their lives, compared to 1.95 children for their mothers and 2.04 children for their grandmothers.
