Mental health of 58 Swedish men living together with their wives and preschool children.

Abstract

The mental health of the man was studied in a random sample ogf 58 Swedish unbroken families. Men with mental symptoms above an approximate median were compared to men with mental symptoms below the median. Thirteen of the men with mental symptoms were regarded as suffering from clinical psychopathology. Men reporting many mental symptoms more often than the others, had poor contact with their parents and poor mental health during childhood and adolescence, and also their parents' marriage had been disharmonious. Men with mental symptoms above the median more often tended to have a less satisfying relationship to their wives and children. This same group of men usually had low incomes and tended to be dissatisfied with their job and present dwelling. There was no relationship between the man's current mental health and the child's report of its emotional contact with its father in a projective play session. Nor was the number of mental symptoms related to the emotional and intellectual development of the child.