parenting

Statistics Shows: Parenthood Is Depressing!

Filed in archive on May 4, 2006

Oh my. Are we parents doomed to suffer depression?

A study by Florida State University professor Robin Simon and Vanderbilt University's Ranae Evenson found that parents have significantly higher levels of depression than adults who do not have children. Even more surprising, the symptoms of depression do not go away when the kids grow up and move out of the house.


The article goes to explain that depression can be simply attributable to parents having more more worries than non-parents. And who am I to disagree? I worry about my son's well-being every minute he's somewhere I'm not. Is he eating enough? Is he getting along with his playmates? Why are we having problems with toilet training? Is he going to succeed in this increasingly competitive world? I'm not the only one this paranoid, am I?

The researchers offer an explanation to this syndrome:

The findings do not mean that parents don't find any pleasure in their roles; it's just that the emotional costs can outweigh the psychological benefits. That's because,as the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, but in the United States, parents don't necessarily have community support or help from extended family.

"It's how we do parenting in this society," Simon said. "We do it in a very isolated way and the onus is on us as individuals to get it right. Our successes are our own, but so are our failures. It's emotionally draining."

I live in Europe, but sometimes, I can relate. Do you sometimes feel that way too?

About the author: Ruth Schaffer is a Microbiologist by training and currently authors the Allergy and Biotechnology weblogs for Creative Weblogging, and a Asian travel weblog for b5media.. She is a mother to a bi-racial, bilingual, precocious 3-yr old.





Permalink: Statistics Shows: Parenthood Is Depressing!

Tags: depression  parenting  shows  parenthood  have  shows+parenthood  statistics+shows  parenthood+depressing 

Vote for Statistics Shows: Parenthood Is Depressing!:

  • Currently 8.67/10
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
Rating: 8.67 out of 6 vote(s) cast.
 
Share It
RSSrss
Google google
Yahoo! yahoo
Addthis Subscribe using any feed reader!
Bloglines Bloglines
TwitterFollow us on Twitter!
Most Popular   All About Babies   At Home   Best of   Celebrity Moms/Dads   Child-Friendly Recipes   Did you know   Education   Entertainment   Expat Parenting   Family   Family Planning   Finances   Fun for the kids   Gadgets   Health   In the Spotlight   Information about   Kids and Sports   Kids and Travel   Marriage  
top blogs