Children of depressed fathers more likely to have psychiatric disorders
Fathers with mental health disorders are more likely to have children with psychiatric or behavioural disorders, too, the BBC reports. In a new review published in the Lancet, University of Oxford experts say boys in particular are affected when their father is depressed, or an alcoholic, adding that the role of men in a child’s development has been “underemphasized” in research, which tends to focus on the mother’s role. Men tend to be most affected by psychiatric disorders between ages 18 and 35, the very years they’re most likely to become a father. A dad’s depression during the eight weeks after birth has been shown to increase the chance of a child later developing behavioural and emotional problems from 10 to 20 per cent. Generalized anxiety disorder, which affects around two per cent of men, is more than twice as likely to appear in children whose parents suffer from it, too.