Yearning for children makes men more emotionally anxious

A survey of 27 men and 81 women without children found that 59 per cent of the men wanted to be fathers – almost as many as the 63 per cent of women who wanted families.

Of the men who wanted children, half said they had experienced isolation as a result of not being a parent, 38 per cent had suffered depression, 56 per cent had felt sadness, and 25 per cent had been angry.

In comparison, 27 per cent of would-be mothers had encountered isolation, 27 per cent depression, 43 per cent sadness, and 18 per cent anger.

About the same proportion of men as women had yearned for children, 69 per cent compared with 71 per cent. But unlike 16 per cent of women, none of the men reported feelings of guilt.

The findings, from Keele University, were presented at a British Sociological Association’s meeting in London.

Study leader Robin Hadley said: “There is very little research on the desire for fatherhood among men. My work shows that there was a similar level of desire for parenthood among childless men and women in the survey, and that men had higher levels of anger, depression, sadness, jealousy and isolation than women and similar level of yearning.

“This challenges the common idea that women are much more likely to want to have children than men, and that they consistently experience a range of negative emotions more deeply than men if they don’t have children.”

An online questionnaire was used. Just over 80 per cent were white, 69 per cent had degrees, and 90 per cent were heterosexual. The average age was 41.