New Study: Good News for Working Moms

What rat race? Working mothers report being healthier and less depressed than their stay-at-home counterparts, according to a study of more than 1,300 moms published in the December issue of the Journal of Family Psychology. The best off: women who worked part time (from one to 32 hours a week). To find out more about the results, I talked to developmental psychologist Marion O'Brien, professor of human development and family studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and co-author of the study. Excerpts:

Why are moms happier and healthier when they're working?

One [reason] is just the social support that you get when you're working — the contact with other adults and people who value what you're doing. That combination of the support they feel and the personal satisfaction is what we think.

The study followed babies and moms for 10 years. Do you think working moms are also happier when their children are teens?

It was primarily with the younger kids that we find the lower depressive symptoms.

What can full-time moms do with this information if they're in their 40s or 50s and the moms of teens? Should they head back to work ASAP if their kids of any age are still at home? And should grandparents urge their daughters to work?

The data that we collect are always across a large number of people. For any individual family, the decisions that they make are really personal, and they're based on a lot of things we can't take into account in our studies. It's very hard for a study that looks at 1,000 people to say that any individual person should use that as a guide. If people have made that choice and they're happy with that choice, and they've been happy being at home, there's no reason for them to make a change. If, on the other hand, they feel dissatisfied or feel there's something lacking in their life or they aren't as appreciated as they would like, maybe some kind of work is a good idea.

But it's helpful for young moms to know work won't hurt their kids?

Right. Working is in no way harmful to women or to their children. We've done some analyses looking at child effects. There are no negative effects strictly from mothers being at work. It's a good thing for people to know. They have the option of making choices. They don't need to feel they have to stay home for the sake of their children. Their staying home, especially if they're not happy staying home, is not the best thing. If they're really happy staying home, it's a good thing. Given the economic situation many families are in these days, it's hard for mothers not to work. Some women feel guilty because they feel it may not be the best for their children, but really there aren't any negative effects.

Does it matter who's taking care of the kids?

The study we drew this data from was a large study of childcare. A lot of the childcare findings are already out in the literature. It's families that make much more of a difference than childcare. The higher the quality of childcare, no matter what the type is, the better. As long as it's high quality care, where someone is really tending to the children, providing really positive, stimulating care, that's a good thing for children. It still doesn't have as much of an effect as the family does.

What if moms can't get a job in this economy? Would volunteer work give the same benefits?

That's a really interesting question, and it's one we didn't look at. I would suspect the answer would be yes, for the same reasons — the social support and the sense of personal satisfaction.

Part-time work is better than full-time work, but full-time work is better than no work at all, right?

In general, that's right. There are fewer competing demands and women can plan their time so they're dividing it in a more satisfying way.

For more about families, jobs, and money, read:

Economics and Couple Dynamics Over the Holidays

Why Families – and Employers – Like Flexible Work Schedules

'You Bought What?!'

'Are We Rich?' How to Handle Kids' Questions About Your Finances