QUEBEC CITY — Paternal depression is relatively common and can negatively affect child behavior, Shreya Davé reported at the annual meeting of the North American Primary Care Research Group.
She presented a cross-sectional study in which questionnaires were sent to 2,352 biological fathers with children aged 4–6 years from 13 general practices in greater London and Hertfordshire, England.
Questionnaires included a diagnostic depression measure and standardized inventories on child behavior, parenting, couple relationship, alcohol use, and demographics.
Mothers were sent a similar but smaller packet. Their responses were used to assess child behavior and were thought to be a more objective way to assess the relationship of paternal depression and child behavior, said Ms. Davé, a research fellow in the department of primary care and population sciences at University College London.
The prevalence of paternal depression was 8% in the study, with 29 of the 365 fathers who responded scoring positively for depressive symptoms. Of the 365 responders, 12 (3%) fathers had major depressive symptoms and 17 (5%) had mild or moderate depressive symptoms.
Fathers with major depression were almost 20 times more likely to have a child with peer problem signs and 13 times more likely to have a child with a low prosocial behavior assessment score, after controlling for maternal depression, couple relationship quality, paternal age, and number of children.
Study limitations were its cross-sectional design, low response rate, and wide confidence intervals resulting from the small number of participants, she said. But findings clearly point to the need for further studies.
“Family practice is an ideal location for assessment and prevention,” she said.