A growing number of mothers are struggling with their mental and physical health, according to a new study.
The study, published Tuesday in JAMA Internal Medicine, surveyed 189,417 mothers from 2016 to 2023.
The findings show a sharp drop in maternal mental health, with only 25.8% reporting “excellent” mental health in 2023, down from 38.4% in 2016. In addition to the decline in “excellent” mental health, mothers describing their health as just “good” rose from 18.8% to 26.1%, and “fair/poor” rose from 5.5% to 8.5%.
“We found a dramatic increase in mothers reporting fair or poor health — a 64% increase,” Jamie Daw, lead author of the study and assistant professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, told ABC News. “These declines originated before the pandemic, suggesting this is due to broader societal and population level factors.”
Physical health also declined over this period, with 15% fewer mothers reporting “excellent” physical health and more women reporting just “good” health. These effects, however, were felt disproportionately with vulnerable mothers — single, younger, with less education and whose kids were multiracial, publicly insured or uninsured.
Experts warn that worsening maternal mental health can have a ripple effect across generations. Poor mental health in mothers is linked to problems during childbirth, early childhood development, and long-term physical and mental health of children.
Fathers also reported declines in mental health, though mothers were consistently worse off — one in 12 mothers reported “fair/poor” mental health compared to one in 22 fathers.
These findings add urgency to the national conversation about parents’ mental health. Most research has focused on mothers around childbirth, but this study suggests parental support needs to be extended beyond the postpartum period.