Maternal health and children’s educational outcomes

Mothers’ Poor Health Negatively Affects their Children's Educational Outcomes

Shannon Cavanagh, Athena Owirodu, and Lindsay Bing

A parent’s health plays a crucial but often overlooked role in shaping their children's life chances. While researchers have recognized the influence of socioeconomic status and parenting practices on child development, less attention has been paid to the role of maternal health on children’s educational outcomes. This brief reports on research [1] that addresses this gap by examining how mothers’ physical health during a child’s upbringing can influence their chances of graduating from college.

In the United States, two significant trends are converging: rising chronic health issues among middle-aged adults, particularly women, and increasing societal expectations for mothers to actively support their children's academic success. Improvements in life expectancy have stalled, with many adults experiencing conditions like obesity, diabetes, and chronic pain. At the same time, the concept of intensive mothering has gained prominence, which emphasizes mothers' roles in managing their children's education in a more economically competitive world. These developments intersect through the "linked lives" concept from life course theory, suggesting that a mother's health may shape her capacity to engage in her child's educational journey.

Poor maternal health can disrupt daily routines, increase household stress, and reduce the emotional and academic support available to children. Over time, these disruptions may affect children’s school attendance, concentration, and overall academic engagement—factors central to long-term educational attainment.

Students' behaviors in early high school—such as math course placement, grades, attendance, and disciplinary actions—are indicators of their future academic success. Students who begin high school enrolled in advanced math courses and earn higher grades are more likely to excel academically and perform well on standardized tests. On the other hand, those who start with lower-level courses and receive poor grades often find it challenging to catch up, limiting their academic opportunities. Frequent absences, suspensions, and classroom difficulties can also disrupt learning and hinder educational progress. These behaviors are influenced by various factors, including maternal health, which can affect a mother's ability to support and engage with her child's education. Therefore, early academic behaviors serve as a critical link between parental health and children's long-term educational outcomes.

The researchers assess whether growing up with a mother in poor health reduces the likelihood of the child graduating from college using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative dataset following individuals from adolescence into adulthood and linked high school transcript data from the Adolescent Health and Achievement Study. They also investigate whether the impact of maternal health varies by the mother’s own educational level as well as the role of children’s school behaviors on the link between maternal health and college graduation. By highlighting the intergenerational consequences of health disparities, this study sheds light on a powerful but often hidden mechanism of inequality: the way maternal illness can reverberate across a child’s educational and economic future.

Key Findings

• Children raised by mothers in poor health were less likely to graduate from college compared to those whose mothers were in good health.
• The negative impact of poor maternal health on their children graduating from college was strongest among children of college-educated mothers. See figure
• Young people’s school behaviors explain some of the link between maternal health and educational attainment.

Children raised by mothers in poor health were less likely to graduate from college.

Children whose mothers reported poor or fair health during their adolescence were significantly less likely to complete a four-year college degree by young adulthood. This held true even after accounting for important background factors such as family income, maternal education, and race and ethnicity. The finding highlights that maternal health is more than just a personal or medical issue—it is also a social factor with consequences that affect the next generation. Children in these households may face additional stress, reduced parental involvement in school activities, or a lack of stability that makes staying focused on academics more difficult. Over time, these disadvantages can accumulate and make it harder for young people to reach major milestones like college graduation.

The negative impact was strongest among children of college-educated mothers.

The negative effect of poor maternal health was greater among children whose mothers held a college degree (see figure). Poor health in otherwise advantaged families may represent a more unexpected or disruptive event—one that undermines the benefits typically associated with a college-educated parent. In these families, high expectations for success and structured educational pathways may be harder to maintain in the face of chronic illness. As a result, the drop-off in educational attainment is more noticeable when maternal health problems interrupt what would have otherwise been a high-resource, high-opportunity environment.

Young people’s school behaviors explain some of the link between maternal health and educational attainment.

Children whose mothers reported poor health during their adolescence were more likely to experience academic challenges, such as lower math grades, increased suspension rates, and higher absenteeism. These challenges can make it harder for the child to stay on track academically, lowering their chances of graduating from college. Specifically, these behaviors accounted for approximately 30% of the association between poor maternal health and lower educational outcomes in children. This finding reveals that it is not only the stress or burden of having a sick parent that matters—it is also how that stress shows up in daily school life. Disruptions in school can add up over time, leading to lower educational attainment in adulthood.

Policy Implications

The findings highlight the intergenerational consequences of poor maternal health on children's educational outcomes. Policies aimed at improving maternal health could have long-term benefits for children's educational attainment and, by extension, their socioeconomic mobility. Interventions that support maternal health may help mitigate the reproduction of inequality within families. Children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds are not immune to the adverse effects of poor maternal health. Schools and policymakers should ensure inclusive support mechanisms that address the needs of students across all socioeconomic statuses who may be affected by maternal health issues.

Data and Methods

The researchers analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a nationally representative study that follows a cohort of U.S. adolescents from the mid-1990s into adulthood. Add Health collects detailed information on respondents’ family backgrounds, health, education, and life experiences. The researchers analyzed data from adolescents (Wave I, 1995) who were followed into young adulthood (Wave IV, 2008). At Wave 1, mothers answered questions about their health, including how they rated their physical health on a scale of 1 (excellent) to 5 (poor). To analyze adolescents’ math coursework data, the study used linked high school transcript data from the Adolescent Health and Achievement Study.

The authors analyzed data from 10,698 young people who completed Waves I and IV and whose biological mothers completed the parent questionnaire.

Reference

[1] Cavanagh, S., Owirodu, A., Bing, L. (2024). Mothering while sick: Poor maternal health and the educational attainment of young adults. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 65(4):521-538. https://doi.org/10.1177/00221465241247538

Suggested Citation

Cavanagh, S., Owirodu, A., Bing, L. (2025). Mothers’ poor health negatively affects their children's educational outcomes. PRC Research Brief 10(2). https://doi.org/10.26153/tsw/60059

About the Authors

Shannon Cavanagh, scavanagh@austin.utexas.edu, is a professor in the Department of Sociology and faculty scholar in the Population Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin; Athena Owirodu is a graduate student in sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Lindsay Bing is a post-doctoral researcher at the Columbia University Justice Lab and an incoming assistant professor of sociology at the University of Alberta.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Grant 1852556, REU Site: Undergraduate Research in Race, Ethnicity and Family Demography, awarded to the Population Research Center (PRC) at The University of Texas at Austin by the National Science Foundation. This research also benefited from Grants P2CHD042849 and T32HD007081, awarded to the PRC at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation.