Fertility and female mental health

Abstract

The issue of female mental health has emerged as a global concern. Using CFPS 2010–2020 data, this paper examines changes in female mental health before and after the childbirth. The estimation results show that fertility has a significant negative impact on female mental health, with a particularly pronounced impact observed in the second year following the birth of the first child. However, the negative effect is small and insignificant for male. Mechanism analysis suggests that the deterioration of female mental health can be attributed to less participation in work and reduced sleep hours, while female physical health status is not affected by fertility. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that the negative effects of fertility on female mental health are more pronounced in younger women, giving birth to a son, with lower levels of education and from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.