Depression symptoms among men when their partners are pregnant
The research by Lisa Underwood, Ph.D., of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and coauthors follows up on their studies of perinatal depression in mothers. The current study examined antenatal depression symptoms (ADS, before birth) and postnatal depression symptoms (PDS, after birth) in 3,523 men who completed interviews while their partner was in the third trimester of pregnancy and nine months after the birth of their child. The men were an average age of 33 at the antenatal interview. The authors report 2.3 percent of fathers (82 men) were affected by elevated ADS during their partner's pregnancy and 4.3 percent of fathers (153 men) were affected by elevated PDS nine months after the child was born. Elevated depression symptoms for men during a partner's pregnancy were associated with perceived stress and fair to poor health, while elevated depression symptoms in fathers after a child's birth were associated with perceived stress in pregnancy, no longer ...