When a baby arrives, 10 to 20 percent of mothers experience postpartum depression. In recent years, it has been known that fathers are also affected. 8% of them are depressed, 11% present anxiety and from 6 to 9% know a high stress rate. However, the impaired mental health of fathers could have an impact on the development of infants, according to a large meta-analysis of 80 studies carried out across the world. These results were published in the specialist journal Jama Pediatrics.
“ We know from other work by our team that maternal mental health is essential for child development. But this is only part of the puzzle. Fathers have been largely neglected in the scientific literature by comparison, but our new study brings together the evidence showing that fathers' mental health, during pregnancy and after birth, is also important, both for the fathers themselves and for the health and well-being of their children.", explains to Science and Future Dr. Delyse Hutchinson, a psychologist at Deakin University in Australia and lead author of the study.
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