The results revealed that moms who work part-time or full-time outside of the home during their child's infancy and toddler years were happier and had stronger feelings of well-being than stay-at-home moms. Additionally, moms who worked outside of the home were healthier and happier overall.
WASHINGTON—Mothers with jobs tend to be healthier and happier than moms who stay at home during their children's infancy and pre-school years, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.
Staying at home with your kids is HARDER than going into work, new study finds. Don't ever underestimate the challenges a stay-at-home mom faces on a daily basis. In fact, new research has found that many people find staying at home with your children HARDER than going into work!
However, it's worth noting that significant research shows that whether they work outside the home or not, parents generally are less happy than their childless counterparts. 17 Of course, the joy you personally get from parenting (and staying home with the kids) is likely to be highly individual.
Additionally, the research showed no significant associations between a mother's employment status and whether her children grew up to be happy adults. In other words, the children are just as happy in adulthood as the children of stay-at-home moms.
The Child Is Often Ignored
This is the biggest disadvantage for the child who is blessed with a working mother. There are often cases when the child needs the protection of the parents and both of them are unavailable due to their busy work schedule.
Still, and while dads contribute to household chores and are more involved parents than ever before, moms are burdened with the majority of the household work and child rearing responsibilities in addition to their full-time jobs. In other words, being a working mom is still harder than being a working dad.
Many stay-at-home moms have limited contact with other adults throughout the day, and this loneliness can contribute to depression. One way to deal with isolation and loneliness is to take some time to let someone know you're feeling isolated—they may be feeling the same way.
While studies focusing on mental health issues among stay-at-home moms are sparse, one Gallup poll of more than 60,000 U.S. women found that stay-at-home moms experienced depression, sadness, stress and anger at a higher rate than working moms.
What is Stay-at-Home Mom Burnout? Stay-at-home mom burnout refers to a state of chronic stress and exhaustion experienced by moms who have the full-time job of taking care of a home and kids. Burnout can also impact mothers who have careers outside of their home, too.
Recent studies show that stay-at-home mothers are prone to depression, anxiety and physical health problems. Maintaining your health as a stay-at-home mom can be tough if you're not careful about what you eat, how much you exercise or how often you take care of yourself.
Fortunately, research suggests that children don't experience any harm when their moms work outside the home. The decision to stay at home or return to work is very personal, and there is no one “right” decision for everyone. Keep in mind that a happy mommy will mean a happier baby!
While six weeks has long been the traditional timeline for rest and recuperation after a birth, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends ongoing postpartum care from birth to 12 weeks. Six weeks is also the standard recovery time allotted for childbirth-related short-term disability leave.
There were approximately 68,500 families with stay-at-home fathers. This represented 4% of two-parent families. In comparison, there were 495,600 families with stay-at-home mothers (if the same definition is applied to mothers), which was 31% of two-parent families.
This means that 4% of two-parent families have stay-at-home fathers and 31% of two-parent families have stay-at-home mothers. There is a large disparity between the number of stay-at-home mothers and stay-at-home fathers.
A stay-at-home mom works many jobs throughout the day. They're a nurse, chauffeur, chef, teacher, playmate, housekeeper, laundry attendant, accountant, and babysitter all rolled into one.
What Is Mom Burnout? Moms experiencing mom burnout often report feeling intense exhaustion and disengagement or depersonalization related to parenting, such as simply “going through the motions,” rather than feeling present or engaged with their children's lives.
“Being alone helps you become more comfortable in your own skin,” Morins tells Forbes. “When you're by yourself, you can make choices without outside influences. And that will help you develop more insight into who you are as a person.” Holding this degree of self-awareness and resilience is key to a happier life.
An introvert's brain responds to stimuli differently than an extrovert's brain. You're at your best or feel healthiest when you're alone because this is how you recharge and replenish. So, it makes sense that you would spend a lot of time by yourself. We all want to feel healthy, refreshed, and at our best.
The work put into parenthood often far exceeds the work we do at our paid jobs. Sure, sometimes being home with the kids felt easier, especially when you can lounge in yoga pants and take the occasional nap. But caring for little ones—especially a new baby—makes even the toughest job pale in comparison.
Being close to family also means more frequent visits from people you care about, which can lead to more quality time and stronger familial bonds. Living near loved ones can also be helpful in case of emergencies. It's nice to know your family can be there for you emotionally and physically when they live nearby.
Results from a recent Harvard Business School study suggest that daughters who grow up with working mothers earn as much as 23 percent more over their lifetimes than daughters of stay-at-home moms.
A Harris Poll data commissioned by CVS Health last year found that 42% of working mothers surveyed were diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression in 2022, compared to 28% of the general population and 25% of their coworkers without kids.