Not only mothers but also fathers have anxiety and depression before and after childbirth ↑...a negative effect on one's child's development

Jun 17, 2025

Not only mothers but also fathers have anxiety and depression before and after childbirth ↑...a negative effect on one's child's development
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Women's pregnancy and postpartum depression is well known, but the mental burden that men experience before and after childbirth has received relatively less attention. However, men are also known to have an anxiety prevalence of 11%, depression of 8%, and increased stress of 6-9%.

In this regard, a study found that psychological difficulties such as depression, anxiety, and stress felt by fathers before and after childbirth can also reduce children's social-emotional, cognitive, linguistic, and physical development.

According to a paper published in the American Medical Association journal JAMA Pediatrics, Professor Delis Hutchinson's team at Deakin University in Australia meta-analyzed 48 cohort studies examining the relationship between fathers' mental health and children's development before and after childbirth and found this association.




The research team selected 48 cohorts from various research databases (MEDLINE Complete, Embase, PsychINFO, and CINAHL Complete) published until November last year and analyzed the relationship between the father's psychological difficulties before and after childbirth and the child's overall development until adolescence.

As a result, it was found that psychological difficulties such as depression, anxiety, and stress experienced by fathers before and after pregnancy were related to the decline of children's social-emotional, cognitive, linguistic, and physical development, and this effect continued from infancy to childhood.

In particular, the psychological difficulties experienced by fathers had a relatively large effect on the decline in children's overall development and language development, and also affected cognitive development.




However, the father's psychological difficulties were not statistically significantly related to adaptation and motor ability, and there was a slight facilitating effect on social-emotional development.

The research team said that the psychological difficulties experienced by fathers after childbirth were more related to the decline in children's development than before childbirth, suggesting that the father's mental state may have a more direct impact on the child's development after childbirth.






This article was translated by Naver AI translator.