Profiles of Depressive Symptoms and Anger in Men: Associations With Postpartum Family Functioning.

Jacqui A Macdonald,Helen Skouteris,Christopher J Greenwood,George J Youssef,Craig A Olsson,Jeannette Milgrom,Liam G Graeme,Lauren M Francis,Tessa R Harrison,Tess Knight,Joanne Williams,Richard Fletcher,Laura Di Manno

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.578114

Abstract

Background: Evidence suggests that men commonly experience depression as feelings of anger; yet, research has not investigated what this means for the manifestation of depressive symptoms in the early years of fatherhood and for key indicators of family functioning.Methods: Using data from a longitudinal cohort study of men at the normative age for entering fatherhood (28–32 years), we conducted latent class analyses to identify patterns of depressive symptoms and 3 sub-types of state anger (feeling; verbal; physical). We then assessed whether class membership was associated with paternity status (n = 535). In a subsample of fathers of infants aged up to 18 months (n = 162), we prospectively assessed associations with paternal-infant bonding, co-parenting, perceived social support, paternal involvement in childcare and alcohol use up to 2 years later.Results: Five classes emerged that differentiated men by anger and depressive symptom severity and by the degree to which men endorsed the feeling of wanting to express anger physically. Compared to the reference class with minimal symptoms, fathers had a higher probability of being in either the mild or most severe symptom classes. Men in symptomatic classes were at higher risk of lower levels of social support, co-parenting problems, and paternal-infant bonds. Class membership was not associated with alcohol use or paternal involvement in childcare.Conclusions: Our results reveal patterns of co-existing symptoms of depression and anger in fathers of infants that will be relevant to men's own need for support, their family safety, partner mental health and child developmental outcomes.

Highlights

One in ten fathers of infant children experience depression, with prevalence peaking at 25% between 3- and 6-months postpartum [1, 2]
For the subsample of fathers with an infant in the eligible age range, Figure 1 shows that for 83% of participants, the outcome data were assessed in waves subsequent to the assessment of the latent class analysis (LCA) indicators, anger and depressive symptoms
We found that compared to the C1 Reference group, there was a higher probability of being a father in the Class 2 (C2) mild symptoms group and the Class 5 (C5) severe symptoms group with the most elevated physical expression of anger

Summary

Introduction

One in ten fathers of infant children experience depression, with prevalence peaking at 25% between 3- and 6-months postpartum [1, 2]. Paternal depression is associated with alcohol misuse [3], lower social support [4], poorer quality father-infant bonds [5,6,7], and higher risk of partner relationship problems [8], overall indicating an environment of increased physical and emotional risk for the father, his partner and the developing child [9]. Compared to non-depressed fathers, those reporting depressive symptoms have poorer interactions with their infant children, including higher frequency of spanking [10, 11]. Evidence suggests that men commonly experience depression as feelings of anger; yet, research has not investigated what this means for the manifestation of depressive symptoms in the early years of fatherhood and for key indicators of family functioning

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion