USA Today has an article about depression in new dads.
Randy or Tick Tock, care to comment? I can totally see how new parents can be depressed (I admittedly was), but the article then goes on to link a two month old with a depressed father to the child having psychiatric disorders at age seven. That seems like a bit of a stretch.... what is it about British studies that makes them seem like they're so down on fathers?
what is it about British studies that makes them seem like they're so down on fathers?
I think I heard it's because of a child leave bill one of the parties was trying to pass, so now they try to make fathers look as bad as possible.
I'm probably wrong though.
I'm Not a Slacker
You'd have to go look up the individual studies for details, articles like this are very brief and sketchy summaries of the study. And even then, you'd have to consider all the variables that were not considered in the study that could also have contributed to the findings (these can be and often are many).
http://skepticdad.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/the-science-on-new-dad-depression/
I have an interview coming with the study's author. He wrote me back to tell me that his responses were coming soon. So maybe he hasn't forgotten me.
These were my questions...
How positive are you that there is a clear link between post-natal depression in fathers and their children's behavioral problems?
Do you think that this link is genetic or comes from poor nurturing?
Is it possible that babies with colic and volatile tempers grow up to have behavioral problems, and that the depression in fathers stem from having a fussy baby? That perhaps babies prone to behavior problems are the cause of the depression and not the other way around?
Is it possible that the depression in fathers stem from a poor marriage, and that having a weak parental unit creates the behavior problems?
Are the results only isolated to postnatal depression or do they also include those men who are constantly depressed?
Did you find a similar link between postnatal depression in mothers and their children?
How did you decide whether the father was depressed? Was it voluntary information or did they have to be diagnosed as depressed?
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http://www.altparenting.com
Also a study out today about postpartum depression in dads...
http://www.webmd.com/depression/postpartum-depression/news/20080506/men-also-get-postpartum-depression?src=RSS_PUBLIC
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http://www.altparenting.com
I received the answers to my interview questions. You can read them here!
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http://www.altparenting.com
Good questions, ticktock. Good interview. And I appreciate his cordiality and responses.
I hope I am not being disrespectful, and I might have missed something:
But his answers leave me thinking that, basically, nature and nurture both have an influence on a child, and that a similar environment will effect two children differently. So... my thoughts haven't changed after reading what he had to say.... except that maybe I need to smile more around the house. :-)
He seems nice enough. Did I miss some groundbreaking something in his report?
P.S. -- I thought about pulling quotes from his interview for my comment, but I didn't want to take him out of context. Besides, your interview is brief and smooth-reading. So dads should read it for themselves.)
Yeah, I still think that his results were statistical noise and not anything groundbreaking, though The Children of the 90s study itself is a very impressive project with a large sample size and long duration.
These studies seem to show a unique result in the data creating an opportunity for an open ended media headline. Once the headline is gone, we realize that there is little substance there.
One thing I pointed out in my first article, and he mentions briefly in the interview, is that it was a small portion of Dads who were depressed. When you factor in the number of those dads who had kids with behavioral problems, the stats are still relatively small. It would be unfair to say that even the majority of dads with post partum depression have children with behavior problems, and yet that is the conclusion that one is left after reading the headlines.
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http://www.altparenting.com
As a person who has suffered his whole life with sometimes even life threatening depression I thought I would chime in. The rise in depression has come from a better understanding of how the brain works, drugs to regulate brain chemicals, and much better diagnostic techniques.
If anyone has interest in depression I would suggest they read “The Nooday Deamon.” by Andrew Solomon.
Studies are almost all bollocks; the truth is no one really knows for sure what causes depression. That fact is clear in that no two people respond to any one treatment the same way. No one also knows why it comes or why it goes. Exterior stressors are obviously a factor but the question becomes what is “nature,” and what is “nature,” when it comes to a disease that is not always hereditary.
Be Seeing You.
I don't mean to belittle depression such as what you are dealing with, NN2. I take it very seriously. My comments, and most comments here, I think, were actually about the study which sheds no real light on the subject.
I completely agree that depression in a household effects the children. Any sort of positive or negative state of being has to have some sort of effect. And as you say (and I agree) "no two people respond to any one treatment the same way." By extension, I think that no two people will respond to the positive or negative stimuli at home in the same way. Sometimes those outcomes, though, surprisingly land on both ends of the emotional spectrum.
I have had my own bouts with certain levels depression and imagine that one or two others around this website have, as well. For me, it's a battle to make sure it does not impact my kids negatively. Again, I am not one of those people who says "If you're depressed, just smile and you'll feel better!" I wish that were so. Nope. My comments above really were about that study. Ticktock hit the nail on the head, though, when he suggested that the headline was a bit sensational (my word, not his) in relation to the content.
Joined: 2007-01-03
Dad Points: 421