The Emergent Motherhood Mental Health Advantage: Did Pandemic Times Make a Difference?

Abstract

Research indicates that a new pattern of motherhood well-being advantage emerged in the 2010s for U.S. women. Although scholars have argued that maternal mental health worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, whether the parenthood mental health gap changed during the pandemic is unclear. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey (N = 29,241), this study examines the parenthood gap in yearly and quarterly changes in anxiety and depression during 2019–2021 for women aged 18–59, with attention to variation by partnership status. The results show that changes in anxiety and depression prevalence were similar across parental and partnership statuses, with indications that maternal advantages expanded among women who were single. In October–December 2020, anxiety prevalence increased more for single women without minor children of their own living in the household (“nonmothers”) than for single or partnered mothers. In April–June 2021, anxiety declined among mothers, especially single mothers, but remained higher than before the pandemic among single nonmothers. Some of these group differences in anxiety changes became nonsignifcant after we controlled for household economic conditions, which were better in 2021 than in 2019 for all groups, particularly single mothers. In sum, trends in motherhood mental health advantages continued throughout the pandemic.