American Moms Are Not Okay

May 29, 2025

We have receipts ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

May 29, 2025

Bonjour, Meteor readers,

The French Open is well underway, and my Belarusian princess Aryna Sabalenka is still going strong, as is the people’s champion, Coco Gauff. Gauff’s match is playing in the background as I type, and just watching how she moves across the clay is shredding my old-lady ACLs.

WOW LOOK AT THOSE KNEES. I BET THEY DON’T CRACK JUST FROM TRYING TO WALK UP THE STAIRS. (VIA GETTY)

In today’s newsletter, Nona Willis Aronowitz reveals the reasons behind a sharp decline in moms’ mental health. Plus, your weekend reading list.

Serving from my seat,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

The primal scream, now backed by data: If you have kids or spend time with people who do, you know that many moms are not okay. But a massive new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association puts data to vibes—and finds that mothers’ mental health is getting significantly worse. The study looks at self-reported survey results from nearly 200,000 parents from 2016 and then again in 2023. Over that time period, the percentage of mothers reporting that their mental health was “fair” or “poor” rose sharply, from one in 20 in 2016 to one in 12 by 2023. (Fathers did worse over time, too, but started in a far better place–in 2016, only one in 42 reported having “fair” or “poor” mental health, with one in 22 reporting the same in 2023.)

As a pregnant mother of a young child, these results didn’t exactly shock me. In fact, the one-in-12-mothers-are-struggling felt low! Still, it’s worth asking why there’s been such a startling decline in only eight years (which started with Trump’s first term, jussayin’). Dr. Jamie Daw, assistant professor of health policy and management at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and the lead author of the study, tells me there are myriad theories that have not yet been untangled–and that this trend pre-dates the parenting black-hole that was the pandemic. She points to economic factors like “inflation and income inequality” (while all socioeconomic groups experienced mental-health declines, single mothers and those with kids on Medicaid fared worst) but also moms’ “existential concerns like climate change, gun safety, and racism.”

Dr. Daw also posits that the same “sense of isolation” that has become a national trend is hitting many mothers especially hard. More of them are feeling the impact of “weaker social support networks.” And yes, if you also clocked that 2016 lines up with a certain infamous election, that timing may be relevant: Dr. Daws says “it could be true that political polarization contributes to this reduced sense of community or even divisions among family members. There’s less social cohesion.”

One more factor that could be driving these results? Less stigma around admitting that mothering is a Sisyphean task in America. Dr. Daw points out that these results are self-reported, meaning they’re “subjective and very influenced by norms and knowledge about mental health.” This, of course, doesn’t make them any less legit: “People’s own reflections on their mental health matter,” Dr. Daw says. “We want people to have the feeling that they’re thriving.”

In any case, the study demonstrates the urgent need for what it calls “evidence-based policy interventions” for mothers (along with, I would add, non-policy interventions like more communal childrearing and dads getting off their asses). Things like free universal childcare, generous mandated maternity leave, and equal partnerships may not raise the birth rate, but they’d sure as hell make mothers’ lives better.

—Nona Willis Aronowitz

AND:

There is a battle going down in the Oklahoma public school system, and it’s not the one you’re thinking of. A group of parents, called We’re Oklahoma Education (WOKE), is taking a stand against the state superintendent’s new social studies curriculum, which will require all public school students to learn about supposed “discrepancies in 2020 election results” and “Judeo-Christian concepts of ethics and government as the basis for American civilization,” Popular Information reports. WOKE has started a campaign to help parents opt out of those very specific lessons, which it (correctly) labels “propaganda” that is not “appropriate to be taught in school.”. A second group of parents has already filed a lawsuit against the OK Board of Education to have the new curriculum removed entirely. The state superintendent, Ryan Walter, says he’s “[concerned] that parents would opt their kids out of understanding American history.” Bro, WHAT?
The Trump administration is continuing to ramp up its war against immigrants. Federal agents have been showing up unannounced to schools and migrant shelters to interrogate unaccompanied minors (without a guardian’s consent) under the guise of “wellness checks,” the New York Times reports. This is a major departure from decades of practice, which prevented children from being questioned by immigration officials without an adult present.
In his latest anti-vaxx move, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced on Tuesday (in a tweet, no less) that COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and healthy pregnant women were no longer recommended. Does this mean you can still get the vaccine if you want to? Does this discourage insurance companies from covering the shot for these groups? What exactly does “healthy pregnant woman” mean, since pregnancy puts you at high risk for COVID complications? No one seems to know for sure! Even the CDC was blindsided by the news. (And people wonder why moms are stressed…)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga) got into a public online dispute with X’s AI chatbot, Grok, over its response to a question from another user about whether Greene was a “real” Christian or not. “When people…depend on AI to analyze information, they will be lost,” Greene wrote. Totally agree, MTG! So allow me, a human being who was a Christian for 20ish years, to concur with Grok: You’re only a Christian in name. Faith without works is dead, boo!
A bit of fun news that genuinely warmed the ice-covered cockles of my heart: Telemundo is launching a 24/7 Caso Cerrado channel! Si lo sabes, sabes. But if you don’t have the pleasure of knowing, check out the video below to watch my all-time favorite clip from the show.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has approved a new design for the “sacred undergarments” adherents must wear. This may not sound important but, like the rest of America, I just binged the latest season of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and we’re all asking the same question: How will MomTok survive this?
Maria Grazia Chiuri, the first woman designer to lead Dior in its 79 year history, is leaving her role. Known for her feminist flair and for collaborating with artists including Judy Chicago, Mickalene Thomas and Faith Ringghold. Chiuri had her final Dior show on Tuesday in Rome.

CHIURI TAKING ONE FINAL STRUT DOWN A DIOR RUNWAY. (VIA GETTY)

WEEKEND READING 📚

On starting motherhood alone: Noor Abdalla, a dentist and first-time mom, has survived her first month as a single parent. Her husband, the detained student activist Mahmoud Khalil, has only been allowed to hold his son once. (The Cut)

On following the money: Foundations are pulling funds from reproductive justice groups speaking out for Gaza. Renee Bracey Sherman explains the real cost. (Prism)

On paid and unpaid care work: Tracy Clark-Flory spoke with artist Kim Ye on how her work as a Domme helped her create a more equitable domestic dynamic. (Tracy Clark-Flory’s Substack)