Motherhood: is it good for women's mental health?

Abstract

There is ongoing debate regarding whether the child‐bearing years, including the postpartum period, are a time of increased risk for mental health problems in women. Comparisons of the mental health of mothers and childless women have inconsistent findings. This is probably attributable to differences in the kinds of mothers and non‐mothers investigated, and variations in the conceptualisation of mental health, but suggests that firm conclusions about the relationship between motherhood and women's mental health remain less clear than claimed. This study investigated the relationship between motherhood and mental health in a population‐based, cross‐sectional survey of a broadly representative sample of 569 women aged 30–34 years living in Victoria, one Australian state, in 2005. It was found that the rates of mental health conditions in mothers, including those who had given birth in the preceding year, were no higher than in women without children. Further, mothers reported significantly better subjective well‐being and greater life satisfaction than childless women. These data suggest that being a mother is associated with enhanced mental health for women, and challenge the view that the child‐bearing years are a period of diminished psychological well‐being for women.

Keywords:

• motherhood
• women
• depression
• mental health
• Australia