Australia has a relatively high proportion of stay-at-home mothers, despite most young women aspiring to combine motherhood with paid work. Using two waves of quantitative data from the 1973–1978 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, and interviews with a subsample of stay-at-home mothers, we aimed to understand the role of agency in women’s work–family outcomes and the impact upon their well-being. More than four out of five stay-at-home mothers (83%) had previously aspired to combine motherhood with paid work. There were no differences in mental health scores of stay-at-home mothers according to prior work aspirations. However, stay-at-home mothers had marginally lower life satisfaction, and were more dissatisfied with the progress of their career when they had previously aspired to paid work, compared with unpaid work. Although women described their current situation as a ‘choice’, their choices were deeply embedded within gendered, social and economic contexts.

尽管大多数年轻女性渴望将母性与有偿工作结合起来，但澳大利亚的全职母亲比例相对较高。使用来自 1973-1978 年澳大利亚妇女健康纵向研究队列的两波定量数据，以及对全职母亲子样本的访谈，我们旨在了解能动性在妇女工作-家庭结果中的作用以及影响他们的身心健康。五分之四以上的全职母亲（83%）以前曾渴望将母职与有偿工作结合起来。根据之前的工作愿望，全职妈妈的心理健康评分没有差异。然而，与无偿工作相比，全职妈妈的生活满意度略低，并且对之前渴望有偿工作的职业发展更不满意。