Study Shows Working Moms Are Healthier and Happier
As reported by Jezebel, a new study published in the Journal of Family Psychology shows that women who work outside the home are healthier and happier than moms who stay at home during the early years of their children’s lives. Researchers analyzed data from 1,364 mothers gathered during interviews which began shortly after their child’s birth and spanned more than a decade.
According to Cheryl Buehler, lead author of the study, “in all cases with significant differences in maternal well-being, such as conflict between work and family or parenting, the comparison favored part-time work over full-time or not working.” The study also showed no difference between the health and happiness of mothers working part-time versus full-time.
However, part-time working mothers were shown to be as involved in their child’s school work as stay-at-home moms and more involved than those who worked a full-time job. They were also more sensitive to their preschool children and provided more learning opportunities for their toddlers.
As a mom who has worked full-time since the birth of my first child, the results of this study are no surprise. Having a job outside of the home is a way for some moms to maintain an identity beyond catering to the needs of their children. It can be a time to decompress, interact with other adults, and challenge themselves.
It can also lead to feelings of guilt, both as an employee and a parent. This study suggests that part-time work is the ideal situation for the entire family. It allows women to balance the scales between the roles of self and mother, a scale that can be easily tipped in one direction by stay-at-home or full-time working moms who become entrenched in being the perfect mother or employee and let their own mental health fall by the wayside.
Whether women should stay at home or work outside the home has been the subject of heated debate for many years, but according to this study, meeting in the middle yields the greatest happiness for both mother and child.
More on Babble: Putting Off Motherhood May Be Riskier Than Women Think
Whatever makes you feel better.
“Whether women should stay at home or work outside the home has been the subject of heated debate for many years, but according to this study, meeting in the middle yields the greatest happiness for both mother and child.”
And what about the father? It drives me nuts that Dad’s involvement is left out of these discussions / studies.
Part time work for me, the mother, is not the ideal situation for my entire family. I work full time as the primary breadwinner and provider of health insurance. Going part time would not be good for my family. We would take a huge financial hit and I could lose my benefits (or perhaps my job all together since part time is not very accepted where I work). My husband is a SAHD who is self employed, working approximately part time hours from home. I’m in good health and my children’s needs are met by both parents. What difference does it make if it’s Daddy who volunteers at school or helps with homework before I get home at 5pm?
The study is conflating parenting infants/babies/preschoolers with parenting school age children, or is not discussing enough the difference between the two. Infants need mom.
Ha! Not in my neighborhood. The working moms are frazzled, exhausted, fat, grumpy and not too keen on their exhausted, frazzled, fat and grumpy kids. We stay at home moms enjoy our lattes after midmorning yoga and wonder how anyone could possibly value a big screen TV over their baby.
Wow, Andrea. That’s an incredibly mean-spirited comment.
Seriously Andrea? Wow. Because every mom that works values a big screen TV? Riiiiight.
And Suzie, Infants need their fathers too. I have four children who are all happy and healthy even though I work full time. My company gave me just over four months of parental leave each time, and then my husband took care of them during the day when I went back to work.
I’m not exhausted, frazzled, or fat. I have advanced degrees in Engineering and make six figures. Not something to just walk away from so I can go to yoga and drink lattes.
I cannot believe people are still this narrow minded and judgmental in 2011. Pathetic.
I’m sorry you married down?
Anyway, being a mom to an infant isn’t about lattes and yoga. That kind of cheapens it. And, of course, Dads can be excellent caregivers. That said, though, a full year of leave (subsidized partially) for mothers would be a good thing. It is my belief that babies need MOM.
“I’m sorry you married down?”
Wow – this just keeps getting better. First, why the apology/pity? Not once did I say I was unhappy with our choices. Second, how do you come to that conclusion when you don’t know us? Third, would you consider the men I work with who have stay at home wives as “marrying down”?
My husband has B.S. degrees in both Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. I’d consider him my equal education wise. When we were first married he was making more than me salary wise. He was unhappy in his corporate job which involved a lot of travel and dirty politics at the higher levels. Plus, their medical benefits stunk. So I supported his decision to quit and start his own consulting company. A few years later, when we started having kids, we agreed that I would keep on working since my salary supported the basic needs and the medical benefits are fantastic. He can set his own hours and work out of the home. He’s scaled back his work load now while the kids are small, and plans to ramp back up once they are older. I don’t measure a person’s worth by how much money they make. He is an excellent father and husband. He is extremely smart and talented at what he does with computers/software. He is the type of person who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.
If there is anyone to feel sorry for, it’s the people who cannot accept that perhaps there are famlies out there who are happy and successful despite MOM not being with their babies 24/7 for the first year.
I’m sure you realize that our resident performance artist, Andrea, was the person who first made the comment that SAHM=lattes + yoga.
I have been reading this site for 4 years and seen the trail of comments left by Andrea. She enjoys the possibility that her comments could hurt a mother who makes other choices than she would. She clarifies her diagnosis for us with every key stroke, because she just can’t help herself.
You go, SJP! I stayed at home for eight months with my first and was thrilled to go back to work, and not because I love my flat-screen, but because I love my job. There, I said it. I love my job. I love being a teacher, I love being around other professionals, AND I love my son. Becoming a mother doesn’t mean you have to put aside the fact that you are also an individual person. As to Andrea and Suzie, blah. Your ideas are worn-out, your children are no better than anyone else’s, and no one takes you seriously. How could we? You both seem like smart women who worked hard your entire life for your advanced degrees and careers that you both have bragged about, but now your whole existence and self-worth is defined by your children, and you just seem bitter…although I’m sure the denial and insult that is coming my way now is going to assure everyone that that is just not the case, and we are really the unhappy bitter ones. Bring it on, because we’ve all heard it from you two before…
Thanks for the back up Jen and JBOOGIE. I’m fairly new to this site and am not familiar with other commenters.
Wishing you and your family all the best, SJP!
This study’s main findings are related to mother’s health and happiness, not child developmental outcomes. See, women are not simply vessels for fetuses, nor should be expected to become martyrs for their children thereafter. I am, however, thrilled that my two favorite commenters believe that their anecdotal evidence and beliefs supersede findings from a large dataset.
“This study’s main findings are related to mother’s health and happiness, not child developmental outcomes.”
Exactly.
1300-some subjects is not what I would call a large dataset.
If you feel comfortable leaving your infant with someone else all day long and your job is that wonderful that you would choose it over giving your baby the very best start in its life, then bully for you. It’s really no skin off my nose.
And for the record, my kid is better than other kids. Nanananana!
Who’s watching Suzie’s and Andrea’s babies while they do yoga and comment on this site?
still larger than your dataset of 1, suzie.
anyway….. again, the findings suggest that moms on average are happier when they are working. MAYBE kids are “better off” with their moms at home 100% of the time, but moms are “better off” if they are not with their kids 100% of the time. this is on average, of course, and has nothing to do with an individual mother’s happiness, nor her individual child’s health and development.
since we’re using our personal stories as examples, fine. i work part-time and enjoy my work. my toddler stays with my sister when i’m working. i love having a break from parenting to have adult intellectual stimulation, but love that i have most of my time with my kids. i get both and my kids aren’t with strangers, they’re with my family. that’s awesome. also, as i’ve mentioned in prior posts, your kid being awesome might have absolutely nothing to do with your parenting, or may be 100% of the reason. you’ll never know.
I’m not sharing any “personal stories” by the way, so do dump me in with Andrea. I just think babies belong with their moms, not KIDS, babies. And if you can’t spare a lousy year of your life, then…geesh.
you absolutely share personal stories because you have already stated that you were at home with your kid for at least his/her first year, right? that seems rather implicit in your declarations of parenting perfection. that’s not any less personal that what i wrote. a year is a long time, by the way, and the postpartum year is one with high rates of depression, in part due to the insolation of new parenthood. working can reduce those feelings of isolation. benefits for baby due to mom feeling better about herself? not negligible.
@Suzie – For some of us, it isn’t about just being able to “spare a lousy year of your life.” As SJP commented, for some of us it is about being able to provide the best healthcare, best financial possibilities and the best life for our entire family.
In human history, I am sure that working moms have not been the worst thing to happen to the life and development of infants. Some people need to get over themselves.
well, we’ll have to agree to disagree…I would say that if staying home and caring for your own baby for a year is so bloody awful, a person might want to reconsider having a child…you don’t have to, you know.
that said, I feel sorry for those who can ONLY do a year…I mean it gets more fun when they are older and you can actually do stuff with them…anyway….to each their own…I’ve always been an anomaly and I suppose I always will be…I’m sure if a study of this size concluded the opposite, the hackles would be raised around here : )
so you’re suggesting reconsidering having a child based on what? that you can predetermine how stressful and depressed you might be after the birth? would you tell mothers with reflux/colic/premie babies or PPD that they should have known how difficult their first year of motherhood would be and based on that, made different decisions about whether to become parents?
wow…special needs babies need mamas that stick with them and help them through their problems, not run from them! life isn’t a bowl of cherries all the time and nobody ever said it was going to be easy, but there is a time when YOU have to be the grown up…whatever, we have a difference of opinion, you’re happy, I’m happy, but I call skew on the study being very definitive…does this mean that all the other stuff we’ve been hearing about how stressed out moms are is junk?
Please don’t confuse me with the other Suzie. But is the person who called working moms frazzled and fat being serious? Get a life. I am not either of those things and I worked full time with a child for 4 straight years. I just recently negotiated going part time, down to 4 days a week, and the reason has to do with the illness and death of elder family members – not my healthy, happy toddler. I love my job too – not every day, but most days. I know a lot of unhappy and unfulfilled stay at home moms – and they all have flat screen TVs. My mother was a super happy SAHM in the 1970s – playing tennis and drinking Tab, which changed into playing golf and, occasionally bridge, as she got older but, sorry to say it, those days are gonzo. I just think women in their 20s, 30s and 40s were raised to aim higher and when they end up spending their days in spit-up covered clothes changing diapers, it is hard to square that image of themselves with the one of the vibrant high school senior voted most likely to succeed.
I don’t have a problem with a difference of opinions. But I do take issue when the opinion is based on the narrative that women who return to work do so because they are selfish, hyper-career-oriented, materialistic, lacking maternal instinct, or simply undeserving of giving life. Working Moms are making untold sacrifices to do what is best for their families. The concept that she simply cannot be inconvenienced enough to take an entire year off of work is biased and based on stereotypical archetypes and poorly formed judgments.
Perhaps, instead of hurling insults to women, you could become an advocate for change in your community and in our country. Seek ways to bring better maternal leave policies to your State Representative’s attention. Write to your Congressperson. Working Moms – like all women – need support.
@SJP – your first comment could have been written by me! My husband also stays at home and works part time with his business while i work full time. Perhaps what some people don’t realize is that with the way the US healthcare system is set up, SOMEONE needs to work full time from a company that offers healthcare, or the costs become astronomical.
@Suzie / Andrea
There is no need to get nasty just because the way that works for my family doesn’t work for yours. We are all allowed to make our own decisions, and if my decision is to work full time, its my decision to make. I assure you I have weighed all the options and found the one that works best for my family.
Agreed LS! Suzie – have you seen the economy lately? Jobs aren’t growing on trees. You can’t just take one year off and return to the same position, salary, benefits, paid time off. The company I work for allows 18 weeks. If you want more, you have to quit and hope they hire you back in the future… which is likely not going to happen since they will need to hire someone else to replace you. So yeah, it IS a big deal to take a year off.
Do you feel sorry for fathers who work all week and only see their kids on the evenings and weekends? Aren’t they missing out on all the fun? Seems like a raw deal for them doesn’t it? Maybe they should have thought twice on having kids in the first place if they can’t spend 24/7 with them. Nothing chaps me more than a SAHM who is smug about working moms, yet has a husband who works 70+ hour weeks in order to financially support the decision for her to stay home. Who’s selfish in THAT situation?
I know a couple with a special needs child. The husband had crappy insurance and the wife works with me – awesome insurance. Guess who kept working and guess who decided to stay home to care for the child? It’s COMMON SENSE! It’s nearly 2012 – let go of your gender stereotypes. What are you going to say next? That women shouldn’t bother going to college if they want to have kids? I mean come on, why spend the money and effort if it’s better to stay home and have all the fun??
Lets get this conversation back to the heart of things.. part time work. Part time work is a logical choice for many women. Unfortunately, the structures of the work world in the U.S. don’t make it a viable option (unless you don’t really NEED the $) I have known many women who have tried to work part time only to find that they weren’t taken seriously in their positions, receive low pay and (most importantly) no benefits. Often times you just end up breaking even after childcare costs. I have known moms who have tried “job shares” and that doesn’t work either, the employers just end up working each side of the single job share job with a 3/4 or full time work load (with out health benefits either, what a deal for the employer
.
That’s awesome @Sarah – always glad to hear others in similar sitations. Health Insurance factored more into our decision than salary. It’s a scary situation out there if you don’t have decent coverage.
Suzie/GP, I would strongly suggest you refrain from offering advice about what “special needs” babies need, given you have no expertise/personal experience in that area. Until your in the position of having to keep your medically fragile child alive and fully insured, you know nothing about what that’s like to have to be the “grown up” in a situation where you have to work to provide your baby access to adequate medical care.
I work part time, with an almost-two and a five year old, and it really works for me, my kids, and my husband … I love being able to go to work and do something for *me*, my kids like their part time daycare, and my husband likes what makes me happy.
I wish there were more career-type (i.e. well paid and interesting) jobs out there for women, because it really is a great solution for many people. I’m not at all surprised by the results of this study — this situation make me happy!
Suzie, Jen said it well. Also, colic and reflux are transitory conditions, FYI, and completely exhausting. I know this as fact rather than (your) conjecture. Really, I’m quite done writing on this thread. Your comments only indicate both smugness and a lack of compassion.
How do any of you know what I know or what my life experiences are? Defensive much? Are you so scared of people challenging you? Is it so strange to believe that mothers should tend to their babies? I guess so….yes, having a special needs baby is exhausting, nobody is saying it isn’t. It is telling who is most defensive of their choices on these threads and who is not. I am done.
Suzie, GP, or whichever of your names you’re using, you can shut the hell up about what babies with special needs actually do need until you parent one such child or obtain a degree or certificate or some sort of experience in the fields of occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, audiology, neurology, medicine, special education, or even just generic catch-all child development, mmmmkay? Do you know how often a child (well, okay, just my own child because that’s who I have experience with) with special needs must be seen and tended to by someone experienced in those fields every week? No? Do you have any idea what the outcomes are like for children with special needs who attend inclusive or specialized daycares and preschools regularly vs. children who stay home and only interact with educators and therapists at appointments? How about children with special needs under the care of an overwhelmed parent vs. one with regular respite and more-than-once-weekly interaction with educators and therapists? How about how the level care of children with special needs in homes with more secure vs. less secure financial situations?
Think about those things before you spout off some worthless bumper-sticker of a comment about “running away” you fool.
I thought you were done when you announced to Babble that you would no longer visit their site due to their formula advertising policies…
And the “defensive much,” “are you so scared of people challenging you” crap only prove the point further – you know nothing about raising a special needs child – and what parents go through and sacrifice to get their child what the need. But keep going – everyone know who is actually the defensive one here. We watch you do it every day. Your chronic projection isn’t a particularly attractive quality.
I’m a SAHM. I’m fat AND frazzled. There goes that theory.
But, seriously, who cares? My husband would always make more money than me, so he works. Someday, I’d love to get a PT job but only if my salary wouldn’t go directly to paying someone to watch my kids while I’m working. I know that right now, I couldn’t do two jobs well enough to satisfy me. And that’s what it comes down to: this situation works for me and my family. Other situations work for other families. Go in peace.
I don’t know who you people think you are or who you think I am, but this is all getting way too weird for me. Sayonara, bitches! It’s always somethin’ isn’t it?
Look, if you’re going to play this “Who is this GP of whom you speak” game, “Suzie”, it would probably help if you didn’t sign off with the same “Sayonara bitches!” you used last time…
Absolutely, we’re talking about the same person who, during a phase of using her real full name to post comments, actually pretended that “someone” hacked her account and was posting as her. Anyone else remember that time? And the same person who changed her moniker to “Suzie” after she claimed someone stalked her. Sure, it is getting weird in here. Wonder why?
Also, saying “Sayonara, bitches!” kinda loses its impact if everyone knows you’ll be back tomorrow.
You like studies…here’s one to chew on! http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214125904.htm
(again, not sure what the “GP”, “hacking”, and all that is about, guess it’s hard to stick to a line of discussion for you frazzled mamas?)
Mercy. So, on a thread discussing a study of 1300 women and its findings about working mothers’ health and happiness, Suzie decides that 1300 is just too damn small of a sample. She then posts a link to an article about a study of 75 low-income-only children which does not mention working mothers even once. These are some mad debate skills, I tell you what.
Um, defensive about what? I was a SAH for the first year(s) of both my children’s lives. And you have posted multiple times about how easy your kid is, so I’m going out on a limb to assume that you didn’t have a difficult newborn. This was only one study, right? Why post another (irrelevant) one? Seems rather defensive to me….
Nobody is “debating” anything…just giving different perspectives. Everyone seems to think working is a given, except when it’s not and they have no choice and it doesn’t matter. I am raising consciousness here.
Whatever makes you feel better.
Suzie, you are so immature it’s laughable.
What isn’t factored in is the financial stability of a family where the mom is able to work part-time. Working less than full time was never an option for me. I agree, if I had been able to go back PT, it would have been great for my mental health and for my child — I think it’s the perfect balance — but for many (most?) of us it’s a question of keeping a roof over our heads and food on the table. Knowing that the family has another wage earner and that your FT income isn’t needed might just lift a layer a stress from the mother’s shoulders?
well of course this is true. who doesn’t want their own money, plus a nice break from their kids!!
It is easier to tell, than to make.
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