Are Stay-At-Home Mums More Depressed Than Working Mums?

The mum wars continue! A new Gallup study showed that stay-at-home mums have a bigger tendency to feel depressed compared to mothers who have careers outside the home. 

The study covered about 60,000 respondents, where Gallup asked them about their feelings ‘yesterday.’ More than half of the stay-at-home mums said they feel like they are thriving while about 42 percent say they are striving. 

The percentage increases to 51 percent when a stay-at-home mum’s household income is less than $36,000. 

When one flips the coin, more than 60 percent of employed mums believe they are thriving while only 36 percent said they are struggling. In the same manner, the number increases to 47 percent when an employed mum has an average household income of $36,000. 

In this study, Gallup defined ‘employed’ as a woman who earn a salary and with kids below 18 years old. Stay-at-home mums, meanwhile, were defined as mothers who do not receive a paycheck. 

When asked about their emotions, 41 percent of work from home mums say they worry while only 34 percent of employed mums say the same thing. 50 percent of SAHMS also said they are more likely to experience stress compared to only 48 percent of employed mums. 

The study basically tells that stay-at-home mums with low incomes are likely to be the ones who struggle the most. Because they feel more pressure to manage the family’s money and juggle the demands of motherhood, they are more prone to stress, worry and sadness. 

The question then is raised what kind of support must be given to stay-at-home mums to keep them balanced and enable them to be more effective in managing the household.