- Herrick, M. S. R., & Chai, W. (2023). Increasing maternity leave and decreasing attrition rates of U.S. active duty women in the prenatal and immediate postpartum period. Military Medicine, Article usad146. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usad146
- In 2015, maternity leave policies for active-duty Servicewomen shifted from an allotted 6 weeks to 12 weeks of leave. Using data from 2011 to 2019, this study examined whether time allotted for maternity leave was linked to pregnant women leaving military service (i.e., military attrition) at 1 year postpartum. The Defense Eligibility and Enrollment Reporting System (DEERS) and multiple health record systems were used to obtain data regarding military attrition, demographic characteristics (e.g., branch, rank), and pregnancy records. Using data on the 67,281 women who became pregnant during the study timeframe, military attrition at 1 year postpartum declined following the policy revisions that granted women longer maternity leave. The impact of this change varied across branches and ranks.
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