Contract grant sponsor: Research Council of Norway (project number 186036/V50).
FATHERS’ MENTAL HEALTH AS A PROTECTIVE FACTOR IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MATERNAL AND CHILD DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS
Article first published online: 25 OCT 2012
© 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Depression and Anxiety
Volume 30, Issue 1, pages 31–38, January 2013
How to Cite
Gere, M. K., Hagen, K. A., Villabø, M. A., Arnberg, K., Neumer, S.-P. and Torgersen, S. (2013), FATHERS’ MENTAL HEALTH AS A PROTECTIVE FACTOR IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MATERNAL AND CHILD DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS. Depress. Anxiety, 30: 31–38. doi: 10.1002/da.22010
- Issue published online: 8 JAN 2013
- Article first published online: 25 OCT 2012
- Manuscript Accepted: 19 SEP 2012
- Manuscript Revised: 18 SEP 2012
- Manuscript Received: 14 JUN 2012
- Research Council of Norway. Grant Number: 186036/V50
The relationship between parental and child depressive symptoms has been found to be stronger for mothers than for fathers. Does this mean that fathers’ mental health is less important in the context of child depressive symptoms? The goal of the current study is to test whether the degree of fathers’ depressive symptoms moderate the relationship between mothers’ and children's depressive symptoms. Our knowledge about such interaction effects between mothers’ and fathers’ symptoms is limited.
We examined depressive symptoms in 190 children (age 7–13, 118 boys) referred to child community clinics and their parents. Mothers and fathers reported on their own and their child's depressive symptoms, whereas children only reported on their own symptoms.
Structural equation modeling revealed significant interaction effects of mothers’ and fathers’ depressive symptoms on mother- and father-reported child depressive symptoms, while no effects were found for child reports. When fathers reported few depressive symptoms for themselves, no relationship between mothers’ and children's depressive symptoms was observed. The more depressive symptoms in fathers, the stronger the relationship between mothers’ and children's symptoms.
Fathers’ mental health may be a protective factor in the relationship between mothers’ and children's depressive symptoms. Thus, researchers and practitioners would benefit from considering not only depressive symptoms in mothers, but also in fathers, when examining and working with child depressive symptoms.