Parents’ mental health and wellbeing is suffering more than that of other adults under the weight of economic and societal pressures, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned in an advisory published on Aug. 27.
The advisory notes that age-old worries parents have always coped with have been compounded in recent decades with the introduction of new technology and social media, a youth mental health crisis, and an “epidemic of loneliness” disproportionately affecting young people and parents.
As a result, 33 percent of parents reported high levels of stress in 2023 compared to 20 percent of other adults.
“As a father of two kids, I feel these pressures too,” Murthy said in a statement. “With this Advisory, I am calling for a fundamental shift in how we value and prioritize the mental health and well-being of parents. I am also outlining policies, programs, and individual actions we can all take to support parents and caregivers.”…