Dad is in a bad mood
Researchers say there are numerous studies that link a mother’s mental status to behavior and development problems of a child, but this is the first to suggest a father’s mental state could have a similar effect.
“The results of this study point to the fact that the father’s mental health represents a risk factor for child development, whereas the traditional view has been that this risk in large is represented by the mother,” Anne Lise Kvalevaag, leading researcher and a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of Bergen in Norway, said.
“The father’s mental health should therefore be addressed both in research and clinical practice.”
According to Medical News Today, the children who had the most emotional issues at age 3 were the ones whose dads were the most distressed.
“If a father is highly distressed, that could affect the mom’s secretion of hormones during pregnancy, it could affect her sleep, her own mental status,” said Daniel Armstrong, professor of pediatrics and director of the Mailman Center for Child Development at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
More research needed
The study doesn’t suggest how the child is affected by the father’s mood, but researchers say genetics could play a role. Another possibility: the father’s mood alters the mother’s mood, which impacts the neonatal development of the unborn child.
Researchers told USA Today the take home message is clear: depression should be monitored in both expecting parents.
“This study gives a more complete picture,” Michael Rice, associate clinical director of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha said.
“When we talk about preventative mental health and preventing these things in the kids, we really need resources there at the prenatal stage for both the mother and the father.”
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