WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine revealed that more and more mothers are facing problems with their mental and physical health.
Researchers looked at survey data from 198,417 mothers with children under 18, collected between 2016 and 2023. They found a noticeable drop in mothers reporting good mental health and a slight decline in physical health over the years.
Mothers rated their health on a four-level scale: excellent, very good, good, and fair/poor. In 2016, about 38.4 percent of mothers said their mental health was 'excellent.' By 2023, that number had dropped to just 25.8 percent. At the same time, more mothers rated their mental health as only 'good' or 'fair/poor.'
Simultaneously, physical health also declined, with fewer mothers saying their physical health was 'excellent.' More women reported being in just 'good' health. The decline in health was especially seen among mothers who were single, younger, had less education, or whose children were multiracial or had public or no health insurance.
Fathers also experienced a decline in mental health, but the drop was not as steep. Notably, one in 12 mothers reported 'fair/poor' mental health, compared to one in 22 fathers.
While more studies are needed to find out exactly what's causing this decline, researchers suggest it could be due to limited access to mental health care, increased loneliness, more substance abuse, and ongoing stress.
'Our findings are supportive of the claim made by some scholars that maternal mortality may be a canary in the coal mine for women's health more broadly,' the authors noted.
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