Overwhelmed and stressed: Mothers open up about worrying decline in mental health
being here. >> Thanks for having me. Geoff: The U.S. Fertility rate hit another record low with families having fewer children and a growing number of women opting out of motherhood altogether. A new large-scale study might offer some clarity. American mothers have seen a stark drop in their mental health. Stephanie sy is back with that story. Stephanie: — >> He is very rambunctious. He is smart and he is funny. Stephanie: Theresa would not trade being a mother to Theo for anything but that doesn’t mean it’s easy being a parent to a child with autism. >> He has days where he is very negative and he just kind of absorbs and you are thinking of all the things going on that you have no control over and I don’t sleep well. I really don’t. I have that, you know, the 3:00 A.M. Thing where you are like, so many things are wrong. And how can I fix it? Just feeling kind of powerless. Stephanie: Taking care of Theo is a full-time job and without a paying job, the high cost of living is only creating more stress. >> Things have become so precarious. If we don’t get help. We do have medicated. That is it. And the safety nets are caught, it doesn’t feel good. Stephanie: This Ohio mom is far from alone. We spoke to mothers throughout the country across race and socioeconomic status. They told us they are overwhelmed, stressed out, and lacking in necessary support and resources. >> I lay awake at night, you know, worried about my children’s future and my future and where things will go if worse things happen in our economy or if things get more difficult for us. >> Sometimes, my anxiety is so great, I feel stark. My best friend is like, Michelle, I have not heard you laugh in two months. She is like, I think you might have postpartum depression. >> Maternity leave can be very isolating. You are home all the time of the little person who wants and needs everything but at the beginning, cannot even smile at you. Currently, I feel stressed about the economy. >> Women tend to internalize and put others first and our help, all aspects of our help become unimportant. Stephanie: A recent study published in the journal of the American medical association found a worrying trend, data from nearly 200,000 mothers of children of all engines found a decline in mental health. Less than 26 percent of mothers reported excellent mental health in 2023, down from roughly 38% in 2016. Mothers describing their health as just good rose from roughly 19% to 26 percent. Those who rated their mental health fair or poor rose from 5.5% to 8.5%. >> It is unusual to see such a big change over such a short period of time. Stephanie: Jamie is an assistant professor at Columbia university school of public health and co-author of the study. >> Was what he saw equally distributed across a sort of the measures you looked at? Quincy has, these are declines we are seeing across the board. The thing to point out is that not all groups were starting from the same baseline. Right? Or you can have a similar decline but me know that single moms, those whose children were insured by medicaid, those of lower education in particular had much higher rates of fair or poor mental health. > Another significant outlier, mothers of multiracial children who saw the drops in mental health. I Moustafa, mother of a one-year-old daughter, says it can add additional mental strain. >> You are going to have trouble with that hair growing up and being prepared for these racialized comments and like how do I handle that? It’s a whole thing that makes motherhood as a black woman more difficult and also raising a black interracial child. A lot of places, pediatricians are asking them to checkboxes about their mental health but nothing else. Stephanie: In between performing ultrasound and blood pressure checks from a certified nurse midwife Melissa Stott noticed something in her patients in Ann Arbor, Michigan. >> People feeling a sense of isolation. People feeling like I wish I had some mom friends. I wish I could talk to somebody about some of these feelings that I am having of sadness around X, Y, and Z. Also feeling like I am not sure how to navigate that. Stephanie: M her patients’ saw a decline in their mental health. >> Any words of wisdom that you would like to give these moms who will be soon bringing their babies into the world? Stephanie: Tired of being unable to offer more support, Stott and her colleague created a community for black mothers beginning in 2019. It includes 200 moms and holds meetings twice a month in person and virtually. >> We have rich women, poor women, some partners, some unpartnered so it presents a really diverse conversation and there is this unifying situation that happens because they are all black women so it is very common that someone will say, I’m really struggling with X, breast-feeding. Other women will come around her and just say, ok, how can I help? There is not the stigma I see it and a lot of moms faces even like mom blogs or wherever. Stephanie: Moustafa had a history of depression and anxiety and participates regularly in our village meet ups. >> Our village has helped spark the joy of being in spaces where folks look like me and then also making me get out in community. Stephanie: Do you think mothers in general have enough support? >> Absolutely not. I think in general across genders, parenthood is hard and then with mothers, there’s a lot of — you control the domain. That baby was hungry. Just constant criticism of how someone was doing that I don’t see happening with dads whereas with dads, — that is so great. Look at you. >> Whether it is from increased self-awareness, societal expectations, or economic pressures, the mental health of mothers is a complex issue that Columbia researcher Jamie Dobbs says need to be addressed. >> I would hope that our findings will help policymakers, you know, really prioritize this issue of supporting parents and not just early on in early childhood but throughout your parenting journey from zero to 18 and how this country could better support moms. >> Until there is more support, moms health will suffer. >> I should be taking better care of myself, not skipping appointments. This is more important than just being fake. It’s being here, being present. >> Ultimately, it is not just the health of mothers at stake but the children that depend on them. For the pbs news hour, I am Stephanie sy. ♪♪
The U.S. fertility rate hit another record low last year, with families having fewer children and a growing number of women opting out of motherhood altogether. A new large-scale study might offer some clarity. It shows U.S. mothers have seen a stark drop in their mental health. Stephanie Sy reports.
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