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Separation from father leads to stress and depression in adolescents

Recent findings published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry showed that adolescents experienced stress and depressive symptoms after separation from their fathers.

In 2002, researchers from the University of Montreal enrolled 1,160 students aged 12 or 13 years who were living with both parents. Every 3 months for 5 years, the students answered a questionnaire that measured indicators of mental health, including anxiety, depressive symptoms and stress about family relationships, and substance use, including alcohol and cigarette smoking. Students who reported not living with their father for 6 or more consecutive months were considered separated from their father. The researchers used pooled regressions to model the associations between separation from father and indicators of mental health, controlling for age, sex and baseline level of the outcome variable.

Jennifer O'Loughlin

They found that adolescents separated from their fathers were more likely than adolescents living with both parents to report depressive symptoms in the 4 to 6 month period after separation (β = 0.17; 95% CI, 0.01-0.33). Adolescents separated from their fathers were more likely to worry about their parents separating (OR = 2.39; CI, 1.29-4.43), worry about a new family (OR = 4.25; 95% CI, 2.33-7.76), worry about the family financial situation (OR = 2.35; 95% CI, 1.53-3.6) and worry about the relationship with their father (OR = 1.53; 95% CI, 0.98-2.39). Adolescents separated from their fathers were not more likely to worry about their relationship with their fathers in the 7 to 9 month period after separation. However, they were more likely to worry about their relationship with their mothers.

“This relational change may be attributed to the fact that the mother must often play a new role in terms of greater monitoring and discipline,” Jennifer O’Loughlin, PhD, professor at the University of Montreal, said in a press release. “This can cause tension between her and her children.”

In addition, adolescents separated from their fathers were not more likely to use alcohol or cigarettes.

“It is possible that these substances are perceived negatively by the adolescents and that they avoid using them,” O’Loughlin said in the press release. “This is especially true if substance abuse by their father was the source of marital discord.”

In addition, this finding that adolescents were not more likely to use alcohol or cigarettes after separation from their fathers contradicted the conclusion of a study conducted 30 years ago, according to the researchers.

“Separated parents and their adolescents can be reassured by the results of the study, which show that depression symptoms are usually transient following separation,” the researchers wrote. “However, they may need informal support or therapy to prevent further progression of depressive symptoms and the development of more serious mental health problems.” – by Will Offit

Disclosures: O’Loughlin reports no relevant financial disclosures.