Trapped in Motherhood: Parenthood Regret and Mental Health Among Mothers Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been consistently shown to disrupt maternal identity and caregiving capacities. However, little is known about its impact on mothers’ feelings of regret for having children. Grounded in the spillover hypothesis and Belsky’s process model of parenting, the present study investigated whether symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress mediated the relation between psychological and physical IPV exposure and parenthood regret in a community sample of 609 cisgender heterosexual mothers (Mage = 40.91, SD = 6.52) residing in Italy. All participants were cohabiting with a male partner and parenting at least one biological child (Mage = 8.35 years, SD = 5.07; 51.72% assigned female at birth). Structural equation modelling indicated that the frequency of psychological and physical IPV exposure within the past year was not significantly associated with higher levels of parenthood regret. However, this relation was mediated by greater levels of maternal depression and stress; anxiety, did not emerge as a significant mediator. These findings suggest that parenthood regret in IPV-exposed women may be shaped by both external relational adversity and internal psychological distress. Interventions aimed at addressing maternal mental health and supporting maternal identity reconstruction may be essential in mitigating the adverse correlates of IPV.