Working mothers might be less depressed and healthier than their stay-at-home counterparts, a study finds.There also might be advantages to working part time as opposed to full time, because women who put in less than 40 hours a week were more sensitive toward their preschool children. They also were as involved in their children's school as were stay-at-home mothers, but more than mothers who worked full time.
In the study, published in the December issue of the Journal of Family Psychology, 1,364 mothers were interviewed and observed beginning right after the birth of their child through fifth grade about such subjects as depression, health status, juggling work and family life, and parenting. Families were from 10 locations around the United States.
Women who worked part time and full time said they had fewer symptoms of depression than did nonworking mothers. At three years, or once the child began school, those differences disappeared.
In some instances, the differences among groups were small to moderate. Still, the study authors noted that the information sheds light on the advantages of part-time work for women with small children.
Work might provide women with support and resources they don't get at home, and women who are at home all day with their kids might be more stressed because of it -- until the kids go to school.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Worth quotingLiz Perelstein, president and CEO of School Choice International: "Let children do their own homework. Could it be that the plethora of young adults who are moving home after college and can't figure out how to earn a living or function without their parents' intervention are those whose parents have solved all their problems all along?"
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
