Baby blues affect fathers too, Kiwi study shows

Groundbreaking research finds up to one in 25 dads experiences depression

Prenatal and postnatal depression have been studied exhaustively in mothers but a new study of 3500 Kiwi men has revealed that dads are also affected by the baby blues.

Using participants from the longitudinal Growing Up in New Zealand study, University of Auckland researchers discovered 2.3 per cent of fathers experienced depression during their partners’ pregnancy and the figure climbed to 4.3 per cent nine months after their child was born.

Fathers most at risk of depressive symptoms either felt stressed or were in poor health, although postnatal depression was also influenced by relationship factors.

Although paternal depression could not harm the foetus, it could still affect children’s psychosocial and cognitive development.

The researchers behind the study, published today in JAMA Psychiatry, a journal of the American Medical Association, now hope to increase awareness among fathers about the risk of increased depression.

Study author Dr Lisa Underwood said that while maternal antenatal and postnatal depression were recognised and known to be associated with poor outcomes for women and children, there had been little done to identify perinatal depression symptoms in men.

“As in many other countries, New Zealand women are assessed for postnatal depression following childbirth,” she said.

“There is no routine screening of women during pregnancy and none for fathers before or after the birth of their children, since they are not usually engaged in routine perinatal care.

“In the present study of fathers, self-reported poor health and self-perceived stress during the pregnancy were consistently linked to paternal depression during the pregnancy.”

Other risks associated only with paternal postnatal depression included a history of depression, unemployment, relationship status and family environments during the postnatal period.

Of these, the strongest predictor of paternal depression was no longer being in a relationship with the child’s mother, Underwood said.

“Increasingly, we are becoming aware of the influence that fathers have on their children’s psychosocial and cognitive development.”

Given the potential for paternal depression to have direct and indirect effects on children, it was important that we recognise and treat symptoms among fathers early.

“Arguably, the first step in doing this is to raise awareness about factors that lead to increased risks among fathers themselves.”

Combined with two recent papers reporting on New Zealand mothers’ antenatal and postnatal depression, the study provided a view of the separate and common risk factors for depression in parents which, if detected early and appropriately managed, could limit the impact on their child’s wellbeing.

All studies drew on interviews with families involved in the Growing Up in New Zealand study, which was tracking the development of more than 6000 children born in 2009 and 2010.