Symptoms of depression increased on average by 68 percent over the first five years of fatherhood for men who were around 25 years old when they became fathers and lived with their children, according to the study published in the journal Pediatrics.
“There’s been a significant body of literature describing the effect of mother’s depression on child development, and the health-care system has tried to rise to the challenge of identifying mothers with depression,” said Craig Garfield, an associate professor in pediatrics and medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “Fathers have not been on the radar screen until recently. Now we know that ... right around the time of the birth is an important time to try and capture and screen those dads.”
Paternal depression affects 5 percent to 10 percent of fathers, Garfield said, while about 10 percent to 15 percent of new mothers will experience maternal depression.
His previous research has shown depressed dads will use more corporal punishment, read less and interact less with their children – and are more likely to be stressed and neglect their children. Compared with the children of non-depressed dads, these children are at risk for having poor language and reading development and more behavior problems and conduct disorders.
For the new study, researchers used data collected from 10,253 adolescent males enrolled in a nationally representative study examining social and behavioral health.
“Parenting young children is rewarding but also one of the most difficult jobs in the world, so it’s not surprising that both mothers and fathers experience greater depression during the transition to parenthood,” said Lisa Harvey, a professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst who was not involved with the study.
“Young children require an enormous amount of care, and it can be stressful to juggle parenting, work, extra housework, all while getting less sleep,” she said. “Having a child can also cause financial strain and difficulties in the couple’s relationship. All of these things can put parents at risk for becoming depressed.”
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