Stay-at-home mothers are less likely to have experienced depression than all other women, according to a leading sociologist.

While abundant research has shown that married mothers are happier than other demographics of women, less work has been done on stay-at-home mothers specifically.

To examine that question, Stephen Cranney of the Institute for Family Studies looked at large US datasets on drug and emotional-health-related issues.

He found that 10% of stay-at-home mothers had experienced a major depressive episode in the past year.

By contrast, that figure rose to 15% for all other women.

Likewise, when looking at suicidality, he found that 5pc of stay-at-home mothers had suicidal thoughts in the past year versus 8% for their non-homemaker, female counterparts.

Moreover, as mental health is not simply the absence of problems, Cranney cited work of a colleague from 2022 that showed stay-at-home mothers are at least as happy as employed mothers.