Fathers' mental health may influence toddlers

Plenty of research has linked a mother's mental health during and after pregnancy with her child's well-being. Now, a study suggests that an expectant father's psychological distress might influence his toddler's emotional and behavioral development.

"The results . . . point to the fact that the father's mental health represents a risk factor for child development," said study lead author Anne Lise Kvalevaag.

For the study, published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, researchers looked at more than 31,000 children born in Norway and their parents.

Fathers were asked about their mental health, whether they felt blue or fearful when the mothers were four to five months pregnant.

Mothers provided information about their own mental health and about their children's social, emotional and behavioral development at age 3.

The researchers did not look at specific diagnoses in children, but gathered information on whether the youngsters got into fights, were anxious or if their mood shifted from day to day, said Kvalevaag, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of Bergen in Norway.

Three percent of the fathers reported high levels of psychological distress. Children of the most distressed men struggled the most emotionally at age 3. The research was not able to establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship, however. -- HealthDay