The Impacts of Paid Family Leave on Mental Health
The United States is one of six countries, and the only wealthy country in the world, to not have a paid family leave policy. By contrast, the global average length of paid maternity leave is 29 weeks, with many wealthy countries such as Sweden, Canada, and Japan even offering more than a year of paid paternity leave. The closest thing that the United States has to a federally mandated maternity leave is the Family and Medical Leave Act, which provides certain qualified employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year; however, these qualified workers only make up 60% of the workforce.
The postpartum, or “after birth” period is a crucial time for maternal and child health and development. In a 2021 publication in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the authors note that in the first three months after giving birth, 19% of women in high-income countries experience depression. This number increases in racial and ethnic minority populations to between 35% and 67%. This high incidence of depression in the postpartum period is significant because postnatal (also meaning “after birth”) mental health disorders in mothers have been associated with poorer health outcomes in children. These may include poorer development and even higher rates of neglect or abuse. Paid family leave is being explored as an option to combat issues like postpartum depression--previous research found that each additional week of family leave was associated with a 40% lower chance of postpartum depression. Paid family leave has also been associated with a variety of other benefits: increased breastfeeding, less hospital admissions for infants, lower rates of pediatric mortality, decreased occurrences of pediatric abusive head trauma, and overall improved parent and child health.
The postpartum, or “after birth” period is a crucial time for maternal and child health and development. In a 2021 publication in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the authors note that in the first three months after giving birth, 19% of women in high-income countries experience depression. This number increases in racial and ethnic minority populations to between 35% and 67%. This high incidence of depression in the postpartum period is significant because postnatal (also meaning “after birth”) mental health disorders in mothers have been associated with poorer health outcomes in children. These may include poorer development and even higher rates of neglect or abuse. Paid family leave is being explored as an option to combat issues like postpartum depression--previous research found that each additional week of family leave was associated with a 40% lower chance of postpartum depression. Paid family leave has also been associated with a variety of other benefits: increased breastfeeding, less hospital admissions for infants, lower rates of pediatric mortality, decreased occurrences of pediatric abusive head trauma, and overall improved parent and child health.
Paid family leave is associated with improved mental health in parents, consequently giving them the ability to better care for their children.
Image Source: William Fortunato
In their study investigating the possible link between mental health and paid family leave, the authors found that White, middle-income, younger, and unmarried parents (both mothers and fathers) had less psychological distress following the implementation of paid family leave. Black and Hispanic parents experienced a weaker positive effect compared to White parents. In the authors’ analysis, they found that paid family leave policies decreased parents’ psychological distress by 25% from their baseline levels. However, there was no significant change in behavioral problems such as speech issues, poor mood, and temper tantrums in the children studied.
This evidence is particularly critical at this time, as the Biden administration debates how paid family leave fits into law at the state and federal levels in the United States through their spending bill, the Build Back Better plan. The nation is at a unique point in time in which there is an opportunity to create policy similar to that used in other countries to not only expand paid family leave, but to also potentially benefit mental health outcomes in parents. As of November 19th, 2021, the bill includes four weeks of paid family leave, although this change may be removed to ensure the bill’s passage despite increasing amounts of data on the benefits of paid parental leave.
This evidence is particularly critical at this time, as the Biden administration debates how paid family leave fits into law at the state and federal levels in the United States through their spending bill, the Build Back Better plan. The nation is at a unique point in time in which there is an opportunity to create policy similar to that used in other countries to not only expand paid family leave, but to also potentially benefit mental health outcomes in parents. As of November 19th, 2021, the bill includes four weeks of paid family leave, although this change may be removed to ensure the bill’s passage despite increasing amounts of data on the benefits of paid parental leave.
Featured Image Source: Yan Krukov
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