Having children 'is bad for your mental health'
(Filed: 17/01/2006)

If you thought that the joys of watching your young ones grow up was one of life's simple pleasures, think again. Parenthood is actually bad for your mental health, according to the latest research.

George Clooney, the actor who famously vowed never to have children, seems destined to live a happier life than many of his Hollywood peers, according to a new report which found that parents suffer greater depression than people without children.

The study, published in the Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, surveyed 13,017 adults who were asked how many times in the past week they had experienced symptoms of depression.

Questions included how often "you felt lonely", "you felt depressed", "you felt fearful", and "you had trouble keeping your mind on what you were doing".

The results, which found parents experience "significantly higher levels of depression than non-parents", will please the likes of Clooney, who once bet his friends £10,000 he would remain childless because "it is such a great responsibility and there isn't anything in me that wants to replicate".

The study also found that certain types of parenthood are associated with more depression than others. Non-custodial parents - adults who have a child under 18 with whom they are not living - were found to suffer the highest levels of depression, closely followed by parents with adult stepchildren living away from home.

Professor Robin Simon, an associate professor of sociology at Florida State University and the author of the study, said that the results disproved the notion that having children enhanced emotional wellbeing.

"What is most striking about these findings is that there is no type of parent that reports less depression than a non-parent," she said.

"There is a strong cultural assumption that parenthood is the key to lifelong personal development and happiness and that people without children feel empty and depressed, but this study conclusively shows that this is not the case.

"Parenthood brings rewards, but the worries associated with being entirely responsible for another human being appear to outweigh the benefits and do not seem to lessen as children grow older."

The study's findings will make happy reading for couples who have decided to enjoy the freedom and lack of responsibility associated with not having children.

Ricky Gervais, the actor and writer, and his partner of 22 years, Jane Fallon, are one couple who are happy without children. "Selfishly, I couldn't face the three years of changing nappies and never going out - it was a conscious decision," he said. The actress, Dame Helen Mirren and husband, Taylor Hackford, an American film director, have never had children, despite more than 20 years of marriage. "I was never drawn to babies," she said. "I have never had any sense of loss about not having children, even though I could easily have had them."

But Clem Henricson, the director of research and policy at the National Family and Parenting Institute, a charity that provides support to parents, said that the study ignored the "host of positives" of parenting.

"While the arrival of a child produces a new dimension of responsibility, there is an obvious sense of pleasure and fulfilment that accompanies parenthood," she said. "Most parents would agree that bringing up the next generation is an enriching experience."

A spokesman for Parentline Plus, an independent support group for parents, said: "It is wrong to assume that having a child equals depression. While parents may have concerns about how good a job they are doing, most are parents because they enjoy it."