Would-be fathers 'more depressed' than women 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. 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 to conduct the survey among people aged 20 to 66, with an average age of 41. Just over 80 per cent were white British, 69 per cent had degrees, 69 per cent worked full time and 90 per cent were heterosexual. A further 125 men and women who already had children were asked if they wanted more. Of this group, 50 per cent of women and 55 per cent of men expressed a wish for a larger family. Women who had been denied more children had higher levels of anger, depression, guilt, isolation, sadness and yearning than men.