- NEW YORK — A team of researchers at Rutgers University in the US has found
that five-year olds exposed to paternal depression are more likely to have
behavioural issues in grade school.
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- In a study published in the American Journal of Preventive
Medicine, Kristine Schmitz, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Rutgers
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), together with other researchers
from RWJMS and from Princeton and Rider universities, reported that children
exposed to paternal depression when entering kindergarten are far more likely
to have teacher-reported behavioural difficulties and poor social skills at age
9.
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- “We need to consider depression in both parents, not just
mothers,” said Schmitz. “Depression is treatable, and to support the whole
family, paediatricians must start talking with dads about it and developing
father-focused interventions that meet their needs.”
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- On average, between 8 per cent and 13 per cent of fathers in
the United States will be affected by some form of depression during their
child’s early years, and the prevalence increases to 50 per cent when the
mother is also experiencing postpartum depression.
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- Schmitz and colleagues analysed data from the Future of
Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a national birth cohort that
randomly sampled births in 20 large U.S. cities from 1998 to 2000. The study
continues to track changes in participants’ lives.
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- Two FFCWS data points were key to Schmitz’s assessment: When
the children were age 5, their fathers were screened for depressive symptoms in
the past year; and when they were 9, the children’s teachers completed a survey
that included behavioural assessments.
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- “Kindergarten entry is an important developmental milestone,
and adversities faced at that time can lead to poorer engagement and behaviours
in grade school that may persist or magnify through middle and high school,”
the researchers wrote.
