London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Covid lockdown school closures ‘hit mothers’ mental health but left fathers unaffected’

Covid lockdown school closures ‘hit mothers’ mental health but left fathers unaffected’

Study of parents in England reveals mothers suffered from loneliness, depression and problems sleeping
School closures in England during the Covid lockdown badly damaged the mental health of mothers but had no impact on fathers’ wellbeing, research has found.

Doing childcare and home schooling as well as their own jobs led to more mothers of pre-teenage children feeling depressed, having trouble sleeping and seeing themselves as worthless.

The pandemic increased mental health problems among parents generally. However, mothers bore the brunt, with fathers barely affected, the study found.

Closing schools to stop the spread of coronavirus had “a significant detrimental effect” on mothers’ mental health, academics from Essex, Surrey and Birmingham universities said. However, “for fathers it made no difference”.

The findings are based on a study of how 1,500 parents of children aged between four and 12 in England coped mentally with the school closures that accompanied the first lockdown, which began in March 2020. It looks at the differences in impact between parents whose children were allowed back to school at the start of June – primary school pupils in reception and years one and six – and those whose offspring did not return until September.

Mothers whose sons and daughters missed the entire summer term were worst affected. Their responses to 12 questions in the general health questionnaire, an established way of measuring mental wellbeing, showed a major decline compared with before the pandemic began.

The researchers found that mothers with at least one child who was not among the year groups prioritised to return to school last June “are more likely to report losing more sleep to worry, to feel constantly under strain; to feel like they can’t overcome their difficulties; [and] to feel unhappy or depressed”, they say in a report for the institute for social and economic research (ISER) at Essex University.

Other effects included women losing confidence in themselves, thinking of themselves as worthless and feeling unable to enjoy their normal day-to-day activities.

“The impact of having children out of school on mothers’ mental health is substantial, and an important hidden cost of lockdown. Our study shows – for the first time – the strain of school closures on mothers’ mental health,” said Dr Laura Fumagalli, a research fellow at the ISER and one of the report’s four co-authors.

“We estimate that school closures could be responsible for around half of the decline in mental health experienced by mothers during the pandemic. It is striking that on average fathers’ mental health does not seem to be affected by school closures,” she added.

The authors identified a sharp increase in loneliness, social isolation and the loss of contact with peers both at and outside school as the key trigger for mothers’ decline in mental health. That was more important than having to work extra hours or losing a job, they found.

Mothers whose children were not prioritised to go back to school were more likely to report feeling lonely than those whose children returned in June.

The findings tally with previous research showing that women generally, and mothers living with young children in particular, were among the groups who suffered an increase in mental distress during the pandemic, as did people with poor underlying health, those in low-income households and people of Asian descent. It is the latest study to find that men’s mental health remained largely unchanged.

“The findings of this study are incredibly concerning. Incredible parents, in particular mothers who disproportionately shouldered the colossal burden of juggling home schooling and work during the pandemic, are physically and mentally exhausted,” said the Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson, her party’s spokesperson on health, wellbeing and social care.

“Maternal mental health has suffered gravely through multiple lockdowns, and lacklustre support from the government has simply not helped matters.

“Their botched reopening of schools, in which they failed to take on board the concerns of parents over unclear and inconsistent guidance, is just one example of how the government has utterly failed mothers during a period of great distress.

“Mums must feel like they have had the rug swept out from underneath them. The forthcoming public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic must look into its impact on mental health as a matter of priority,” Wilson added.

The data about the 1,500 parents in the study came from Understanding Society, the UK Longitudinal Study, and was collected in April, May, June, July, September and November last year.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×