Men With Pregnant Partners Likely to Experience Depression

Highlights

Study of expectant and new fathers show that they tend to experience elevated symptoms of depression when their partners were pregnant and nine months after the birth of their child.
Stress and poor health led to depressive symptoms among men who had pregnant partners.
Among new fathers, being unemployed, no longer being in a relationship with the mother and having a history of depression, led to depressive symptoms.

Men who were stressed or in poor health are more likely to have elevated symptoms of depression when their partners were pregnant and nine months after the birth of their child.

The findings are according to a study of expectant and new fathers in New Zealand by Lisa Underwood, Ph.D., of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and coauthors.

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‘It is important to identify and treat symptoms of depression among fathers early by increasing awareness about increased risks, as depression can have direct or indirect effects on children.’

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Study

The researchers interviewed 3,523 men while their partners were in the third trimester of pregnancy for symptoms of antenatal depression (ADS, before birth) and nine months after the birth of their child for the symptoms of postnatal depression (PDS, after birth).

The men were an average age of 33 years at the antenatal interview.

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The results show that 2.3% of fathers (82 men) were affected by elevated ADS during their partner's pregnancy and 4.3% of fathers (153 men) were affected by elevated PDS nine months after the child was born.

During a partner's pregnancy, elevated depressive symptoms in fathers were associated with :

perceived stress
having fair to poor health

After a child's birth, elevated depression symptoms in fathers were associated with :

perceived stress in pregnancy
no longer being in a relationship with the mother
having fair to poor health
being unemployed
having a history of depression

Inability to generalize the findings to the first and second trimesters of pregnancy or to the period immediately following the child's birth is a major limitation of the study.

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"Only relatively recently has the influence of fathers on children been recognized as vital for adaptive psychosocial and cognitive development. Given that paternal depression can have direct or indirect effects on children, it is important to recognize and treat symptoms among fathers early and the first step in doing that is arguably increasing awareness among fathers about increased risks," the article concludes.

The study is published online by JAMA Psychiatry.

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Reference

Lisa Underwood et al.JAMA Psychiatry; (2017)

Source-Medindia