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Depression in fathers linked to teen depression

Greater depressive symptoms among fathers were associated with greater depressive symptoms among their adolescent children, according to study findings.

“There’s a common misconception that mothers are more responsible for their children's mental health, while fathers are less influential — we found that the link between parent and teen depression is not related to gender,” Gemma Lewis, PhD, of University College London, said in a press release. “Family-focused interventions to prevent depression often focus more on mothers, but our findings suggest we should be just as focused on fathers.”

To assess associations between paternal and adolescent depressive symptoms, researchers analyzed data for two-parent families from two representative prospective cohorts, Growing Up in Ireland (GUI; n = 6,070 families) and Millennium Cohort Study (MCS; n = 7,768). Parental depressive symptoms were assessed with the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale in the GUI cohort when children were aged 9 years and the Kessler six-item psychological distress scale in the MCS cohort when children were aged 7 years. Adolescent depressive symptoms were assessed with the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) at age 13 years in the GUI cohort and age 14 years in the MCS cohort.

After all adjustments, a three-point increase in paternal depressive symptoms was associated with an increase of 0.24 SMFQ points (95% CI, 0.03-0.45).

This association was independent but similar to the association between maternal and adolescent depressive symptoms.

“The mental health of both parents should be a priority for preventing depression among adolescents. There has been far too much emphasis on mothers but fathers are important as well,” study researcher Glyn Lewis, PhD, of University College London, said in the release. – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.