The protective role of father behaviour in the relationship between maternal postnatal depression and child mental health

Abstract

Background: Maternal depression, especially when severe and long-lasting, is associated with adverse mental health outcomes in children. We aimed to assess, for children of mothers with persistent postnatal depression symptoms, whether positive father behaviours would decrease risk for conduct and emotional symptoms. Methods: Using data from 4009, mother–father–child trios from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children we examined associations between maternal depression trajectories and positive father behavioural profiles across the postnatal period (child age: 2–21 months), and child conduct and emotional symptom trajectories across middle childhood (child age: 3.5–11 years). Results: Positive father behaviour was much less common in families where mothers experienced high-persistent depression symptoms (33%) than in families where mothers did not (56%); of note, these fathers also had higher levels of depression symptoms. Using person-level analysis, exposure to high-persistent maternal depression symptoms increased child risk for a high trajectory of both conduct (odds ratio, 2.69; 95% CI: 2.00, 3.60) and emotional symptoms (odds ratio, 2.47; 95% CI: 1.83, 3.31). However, positive father behaviour (toward child and mother) reduced the odds of following high trajectories of conduct symptoms by 9% (x = 4.52, p