This paper examines the impact of parenting on mothers’ and fathers’ mental health and the mechanisms driving the effects we find. We exploit the exogenous variation in parenting responsibilities caused by school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic in England. Using a difference-in-difference design and high-frequency data from the UKHLS Covid-19 Study, we compare mental health changes among parents whose pre-teen children were prioritised to return to school in June 2020 to those whose similar-aged children were not. We find significant mental health effects of increased parenting demands on mothers, while fathers’ mental health remains unaffected. The effects for mothers are comparable to those observed in life-altering events such as divorce. Exploring mechanisms, we find evidence that juggling childcare obligations alongside work may explain the differential effects between mothers and fathers. We further propose a measure of mental load, namely perceived child difficulties, and show that mothers took on a larger share of this load, potentially contributing to the observed gender gap in mental health.

Co-authors

Professor Jo Blanden, University of Surrey;

Professor Claire Crawford, University College London;

Dr Laura Fumagalli, University of Essex