Overview

• Researchers from the University of Oldenburg and Trinity College Dublin analyzed annual responses from the Socio-economic Panel, which has tracked the same German participants since 1984.
• Parents report fewer environmental and climate worries around the time of their child’s birth, according to the study’s data.
• Daily childcare demands are cited as the reason why environmental issues recede during the newborn phase.
• Environmental and climate concerns rebound to pre-birth levels once children reach school age.
• Sociologist Gundula Zoch says the findings overturn the assumption that having children automatically increases parental environmental urgency.