What do we know about maternal guilt? A narrative review of its measurement, sources, and correlates

Maternal guilt is a complex social emotion shaped by individual circumstances, interpersonal relationships, and broader cultural and institutional expectations. This narrative review synthesizes 52 studies to examine the theoretical underpinnings of maternal guilt, its sources and its correlates. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach with a particular emphasis on sociological perspectives. Drawing on dramaturgical theory and symbolic interactionism, the review conceptualizes maternal guilt as arising from tensions between lived experiences of motherhood, socially established feeling rules, competing identities, and cultural ideals of the “good mother.” Four dominant sources of maternal guilt are identified: maternal responsibility, identity conflict, interactions with children, and the idealization of motherhood. The review further highlights the multilevel factors associated with maternal guilt, including individual characteristics and social beliefs, family circumstances, domestic support, financial conditions, workplace environments, and broader societal institutions and norms. The review identifies several gaps in the literature, including the limited availability of cross-national comparisons, insufficient attention to socioeconomically and socially diverse groups of mothers, and the lack of systematic comparisons between maternal and paternal guilt. Moreover, although existing research has made important contributions through diverse quantitative, psychometric, and qualitative approaches, methodological heterogeneity limits the comparability and generalizability of findings across studies and contexts. Emerging research areas include the influence of digital technologies and social media on maternal guilt, variations across children’s developmental stages, and the role of anticipated guilt among women who have not yet become mothers. Finally, the review calls for more longitudinal, experimental, and comparative research to clarify how maternal guilt develops over time and how social policies and organizational practices may shape its experience. By situating maternal guilt within its broader social and structural context, this review advances a sociological understanding of motherhood and identifies priorities for future research.