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Men are more depressed and sad than women if they are unable to have children, research has shown.

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 desired a family.

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.

Around the same proportion of men as women had yearned for a child, 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 the British Sociological Association's annual 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 to conduct the survey among people aged 20 to 66, with an average age of 41. Just over 80% 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.