Council on Contemporary Families Releases New Research on Moms' Depression.
Study Includes a Win-Win Finding for Working Moms AND Stay-at-Home Moms
But Findings Pose a Challenge to Employers and Politicians
CONTACT: Virginia Rutter Framingham State University Sociology
vrutter@gmail.com; 508-626-4863
Chicago, IL, May 6, 2011--New mothers are besieged by conflicting advice about whether or not to work. Some experts warn that staying home leads to social isolation, increasing the risk of a mother's depression. Others counter that working moms are more vulnerable to depression because of losing time with children. Since maternal depression can be bad for children as well as for women's own well-being, it's important to know who is right.Neither side is right, according to a new briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families. The impact of working for pay or staying home on a woman's risk of depression depends on her preferences and on the quality of her job, the researchers find.
