• Posted May 27, 2025

U.S. Moms Facing Mental, Physical Health Struggles

TUESDAY, May 27, 2025 (HealthDay News) — U.S. mothers are struggling with both their mental and physical health, a new study says.

The percentage of mothers who report excellent mental health dropped 12 points between 2016 and 2023, from 38% to 26%, researchers reported today in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Mothers reporting excellent physical health dropped by four points, from 28% to 24%, researchers found.

At the same time, there was a three-point increase in the percentage of mothers who rate their mental health as fair or poor, going from 5.5% in 2016 to 8.5% in 2023.

“Our results highlight the rising tide of worsening mental health among parenting women as a key target for efforts to improve maternal and child health in the U.S.,” lead researcher Jamie Daw, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, said in a news release.

For the study, researchers reviewed results from an annual survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau assessing the health and well-being of American parents and kids.

Responses from more than 198,000 mothers showed that mental health declines have occurred broadly among most groups in the U.S., researchers said.

However, physical and mental health was significantly lower among single mothers, those with less education and those whose children are uninsured or covered by public insurance programs like Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or Medicaid, results show.

Fathers also reported a decline in self-reported excellent physical health, dropping from 30% to 26%, but their results in mental and physical health were substantially better than mothers in all years of the study, researchers said.

“We found consistently worse health outcomes for mothers compared to fathers, suggesting that mothers may need additional consideration and attention in policies aimed at supporting parental health and especially mental health,” Daw said.

Sadly, these mental and physical health struggles among moms might wind up affecting the kids they’re raising, researchers said.

“Maternal mood disorders, in particular, can have long-term effects on children, directly by affecting development, and indirectly, by increasing the chance of exposure to co-occurring risks such as parental substance use and lower household resources,” Daw said.

More information

The National Alliance on Mental Illness has more on maternal mental health.

SOURCE: Columbia University, news release, May 27, 2025