Moms who work full-time are healthier at age 40 than moms who stay at home, work part time, or moms who find themselves repeatedly out of work. This was the result of a study reported on Monday, the last day of the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association in Denver, Colorado. Co-author Adrianne Frech, Assistant Sociology Professor at the University of Akron in Ohio, told the press, work is good for both physical and mental health, for many reasons: “It gives women a sense of purpose, self-efficacy, control and autonomy.” “They have a place where they are an expert on something, and they’re paid a wage,” she added.

Persistently Unemployed However, Frech and co-author Sarah Damaske of Pennsylvania State University, said rather than stir up the going-out-to-work versus stay-at-home debate, their research highlights a recently identified group, whom they label the persistently unemployed. They say this group of mothers deserves more attention because they appear to be the least healthy at around age 40. Persistently unemployed mothers are in and out of the workforce, often not by their own choice. They repeatedly experience the highs and lows of finding rewarding work, only to lose it and have to start all over again. This becomes a health risk because of the stress caused by work instability. “Struggling to hold onto a job or being in constant job search mode wears on their health, especially mentally, but also physically,” said Frech. “Women with interrupted employment face more job-related barriers than other women, or cumulative disadvantages over time,” she added.

The Study Share on Pinterest For their study, Frech and Damaske analyzed longitudinal data on 2,540 women who became mothers between 1978 and 1995. After adjusting for other factors that could influence the findings, such as prior health, employment before pregnancy, race/ethnicity, single motherhood, cognitive ability, and age at first birth, they found the choices women make early in their professional lives can influence their health later on. Women who go back to full time work shortly after having children reported better health, both physical and mental. They have more mobility, less tendency to depression, and have more energy, at age 40.