'Depressed,' 'Sad,' Childless Men?

Here's a study that's garnered lots of attention.

"Researcher Robin Hadley carried out a survey of 81 women and 27 men who did not have children, and asked them if they wanted them. He found that men were almost as likely as women to want children — 59 percent to 63 percent — but actually more likely than women to feel depressed, angry and jealous if they didn’t have them."

Now, I have no way to evaluate the validity of the thesis which claims that men who want children but don't have any feel more isolated, depressed, even angry than women similarly situated.

Sociologist Robin Hadley of Keele University (which is located in North Staffordshire halfway between Manchester and Birmingham) acknowledges that his results are in no way a statistical representation of British society.

I'm not surprised by how much attention the results of Hadley's online questionnaire has earned.

The reason may be that men's feelings and attitudes about being childless are seldom explored.