While the role of mothers’ stress, anxiety and depression on children’s behavioral and cognitive development is well established, less is known about the connection between fathers’ mental health and children’s development.
Now, a team of researchers affiliated to different institutions across Quebec, Canada has examined if paternal anxious and depressive symptoms, measured during their partner’s pregnancy, and again six to eight years later, are associated with children’s cognitive function and behavior. They studied this association in a community sample, where parental levels of self-reported anxious and depressive symptoms were variable and typically less severe than among a clinically diagnosed population.
What about the kids? The first assessments, made during pregnancy and in infancy, included parental mental health and psychosocial measures, such as the parents’ highest level of education, relationship satisfaction, and parenting perceptions. The second assessment was conducted at the critical age of six to eight years, when children are expected to make increased use of their behavioral and cognitive skills.
These slightly higher symptoms of anxiety and depression among fathers when measured in childhood, and their associations with the child’s performance on a standardized IQ test are in contrast to the patterns found among mothers.
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