Study shows moms, dads more depressed than other adults

Hey, you moms and dads out there showing off the latest photos of your kids and bragging about their recent achievements. You might not want to be quite so smug: Parents are more depressed than adults without kids. Despite the joys you think parenthood may bring, a study published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior reports that having children does not make you happier.

‘‘We believe the costs associated with the role overshadow those benefits,’’ said Robin Simon, co-author of the study published in December in the journal published by the American Sociological Association. ‘‘We romanticize parenthood. It’s difficult and it is expensive.’’

This depressing statistic — depressing that is, if you’ve already ventured down the procreation road yourself — includes everyone from parents still changing diapers to, more surprisingly, those who sent their kids to college long ago. The finding runs counter to those on other social roles in the United States, such as marriage and employment, that do help your emotional well being, the study said.

The good news is that if you’re depressed, ‘‘You are not alone,’’ said Simon, an associate professor at Florida State University and parent of two.

The findings add fodder to a growing movement of selfproclaimed ‘‘child-free’’ couples who choose not to have children. The number of voluntarily childless women rose from 4.9 percent in 1982 to 6.6 percent in 1995 and dipped to 6.2 percent in 2002, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Groups like No Kidding! and ChildFree populate the Internet.

Simon and co-author Ranae J. Evenson analyzed data from the National

Survey of Families and Households, which was based on a sample of 13,000 U.S. adults. They found that no parental group did better than a childless group with similar education, economic and marital backgrounds.

Married parents with minor children in the house did better than most. Married parents in general did better than single parents. Parents with noncustodial children and adult children at home report significantly higher symptom levels, the researchers said.

In contrast to past research, even empty-nest parents were not happier than adults who never had children, they said.

‘‘Everything we did showed that parents did not fare better,’’ said Evenson. ‘‘I guess for nonparents, maybe there is some feeling of reassurance. It is OK not to have children.’’

The researchers surmise that part of the problem is that parents in the United States get little institutional support. Many lack extended family to help. Child care can be difficult to find and unsatisfactory.

Older adults worry about their children even after they are out of the house.

The researchers emphasized that they studied symptoms of depression — rather than a clinical diagnosis of depression. Those symptoms include feelings of sadness, hopelessness, loneliness, and sleep and eating difficulties. They did not get into people’s feelings toward meaning or purpose in life.

Psychologist David Stoop of Newport Beach, Calif., said he wasn’t surprised by the conclusions. He said he isn’t sure whether parents get more depressed, but he knows they get depressed for different reasons. This is so especially for families in which both parents work, he said.

‘‘There is a lot of guilt. I see a lot of fatigue in parents trying to do everything,’’ he said. ‘‘It is just so overwhelming with what parents are expected to do with their kids today.’’