“A Fire in my Belly:” Conceptualizing U.S. Women’s Experiences of “Mom Rage”

“Mom rage” is a term growing in popularity that refers to the anger or rage that women experience as they make their way through motherhood. This study focuses on the maternal anger experiences of 65 mothers in the U.S. to explore how women describe and come to understand their experiences with “mom rage.” Mothers in the study shared both their perceptions of “mom rage” experiences and their understanding of the personal and social implications of their anger. Findings demonstrated that women framed their experiences of “mom rage” in five ways: losing control, visualizing harm, expressing anger (with two sub-themes physical and emotional), reacting physiologically, and experiencing catharsis. Two additional themes highlighted how women’s understanding of their “mom rage” experiences were grounded in identifying contributors to their mom rage episodes and evaluations of their mom rage experience. Study findings provide insight into the emotional complexities of navigating motherhood in the U.S. Implications for destigmatizing and supporting women through motherhood, as well as limitations and directions for future research, are discussed.