Having either parent suffer from depression may increase the
likelihood that a toddler will develop troubling behaviors such as
hitting, lying, anxiety, and sadness, according to a new Northwestern
Medicine study.
The study is one of the first to show that a father’s depression —
from postpartum to toddlerhood — can have the same effect as a mother’s
depression. Prior research has focused mostly on mothers with postpartum
depression and found that their symptoms may impact their children’s
behavior during a time of critical development.
“Father’s emotions affect their children,” said lead author Sheehan
Fisher, an instructor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “New fathers should
be screened and treated for postpartum depression, just as we do for
mothers.”
Mothers and fathers who are suffering from depression may not make as
much eye contact or smile as parents who are not depressed. The more
disengaged parents are from their child, the harder it will be for the
child to form close attachments and experience healthy emotions,” Fisher
said.
“Depression affects the way people express emotions, and it can cause their behavior to change,” he added.
Earlier studies have found that fathers are at a greater risk of
depression after the birth of a child compared to any other time in a
typical male’s life. The findings show that a father’s mood during
postpartum is important to the trajectory of his depression three years
later and significant for predicting his child’s behavior during the
toddler years.
“Early intervention for both mothers and fathers is the key,” Fisher
said. “If we can catch parents with depression earlier and treat them,
then there won’t be a continuation of symptoms, and, maybe even as
importantly, their child won’t be affected by a parent with depression.”
For the study, Fisher collected data from a group of nearly 200
couples with three year-olds, all of whom had participated in a
previous depression study around the time of their child’s birth.
Participants reported information about their levels of depression,
their relationship with their partner, and their child’s internalizing
behaviors (sadness, anxiety, jitteriness) and externalizing behaviors
(acting out, hitting, lying). The questionnaires were completed by both
members of the couple independently and mailed back to the researchers.
The findings show that both the mother’s and the father’s depression
levels during toddlerhood were each uniquely associated with the child’s
internalizing and externalizing behaviors.
They also found that parents who reported signs of postpartum
depression soon after the birth of their child also showed these signs
three years later and that fighting between parents did not contribute
to children’s bad behaviors as much as having a depressed parent did.
Source: http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/03/15/parents-depression-linked-to-toddlers-troubling-behaviors/82308.html
