Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 12/2014

01-12-2014 | Original Paper

Factors associated with trajectories of psychological distress for Australian fathers across the early parenting period

Authors: Rebecca Giallo, Fabrizio D’Esposito, Amanda Cooklin, Daniel Christensen, Jan M. Nicholson

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 12/2014

Login to get access

Abstract

Purpose

Little is known about the course of fathers’ psychological distress and associated risk factors beyond the postnatal period. Therefore, the current study aimed to: (a) assess the course of distress over 7 years postnatally; (b) identify classes of fathers defined by their symptom trajectories; and (c) identify early postnatal factors associated with persistent symptoms.

Method

Data from 2,470 fathers in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children were analysed using latent growth modelling. Fathers’ psychological distress was assessed using the Kessler-6 (Kessler et al. in Arch Psychiatry 60:184–189, 2003) when their children were aged 0–1, 2–3, 4–5 and 6–7 years.

Results

Overall, distress was highest in the first postnatal year and then decreased over time. Two distinct trajectories were identified. The majority of fathers (92 %) were identified as having minimal distress in the first postnatal year which decreased over time, whilst 8 % had moderate distress which increased over time. Low parental self-efficacy, poor relationship and job quality were associated with ‘persistent and increasing distress’.

Conclusions

Early postnatal factors associated with fathers’ persistent distress were identified, providing opportunities for early identification and targeted early intervention.
Literature
1.
Giallo R, D’Esposito F, Christensen D, Mensah F, Cooklin A, Wade C, Lucas N, Canterford L, Nicholson J (2012) Father mental health during the early parenting period: results of an Australian population based longitudinal study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 47(12):1907–1916PubMedCrossRef
2.
Giallo R, D’Esposito F, Cooklin A, Mensah F, Lucas N, Wade C, Nicholson J (2012) Psychosocial risk factors associated with fathers’ mental health in the postnatal period: results from a population-based study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 48:563–573PubMedCrossRef
3.
Matthey S, Barnett B, Howie P, Kavanagh D (2003) Diagnosing postpartum depression in mothers and fathers: whatever happened to anxiety? J Affect Disord 74:139–147PubMedCrossRef
4.
Paulson J, Bazemore S (2010) Prenatal and postpartum depression in fathers and its association with maternal depression. J Am Med Assoc 303(9):1961–1969CrossRef
5.
Dave S, Petersen I, Sherr L, Nazareth I (2010) Incidence of maternal and paternal depression in primary care: a cohort study using a primary care database. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1644(11):1038–1044
6.
7.
8.
Goodman J (2004) Paternal postpartum depression, its relationship to maternal postpartum depression, and implications for family health. J Adv Nurs 45(1):26–35PubMedCrossRef
9.
Fletcher R, Freeman E, Garfield C, Vimpani G. The effects of early paternal depression on children’s development. Med J Aust (in press)
10.
Ramchandani P, Stein A, O’Connor T, Heron J, Murray L, Evans J (2008) Depression in men in the postnatal period and later child psychopathology: a population cohort study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 47(4):390–398PubMedCentralPubMedCrossRef
11.
Giallo R, Cooklin A, Wade C, D’Esposito F, Nicholson J (2013) Maternal postnatal mental health and later emotional–behavioural development of children: The mediating role of parenting behaviour. Care, Health and Development advanced online publication, Child
12.
Post and Antenatal Depression Association (2012) The cost of perinatal depression in Australia. Deloitte Access Economics Pty Ltd, Australia
13.
Ballard C, Davis R, Cullen P, Mohan R, Dean C (1994) Prevalence of postnatal psychiatric morbidity in mothers and fathers. Br J Psychiatry 164:782–788PubMedCrossRef
14.
Atkinson A, Rickel A (1984) Postpartum depression in primiparous parents. J Abnorm Psychol 93(1):115–119PubMedCrossRef
15.
Soloff C, Lawrence D, Johnston R (2005) Longitudinal Study of Australian Children Technical Paper No. 1: Sample Design. Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne
16.
Kessler R, Barker P, Cople L, Epstein J, Gfroerer J, Hiripi E, Howes M, Normand S, Manderscheid R, Walters E, Zaslavsky A (2003) Screening for serious mental illness in the general population. Arch Psychiatry 60:184–189CrossRef
17.
American Psychiatric Association (1994) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edn. American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC
18.
Martin J, Hiscock H, Hardy P, Davey B, Wake M (2007) Adverse associations of infant and child sleep problems and parent health: an Australian population study. Pediatrics 119(5):947–955PubMedCrossRef
19.
Strazdins L, Shipley M, Broom D (2007) What does family friendly really mean? Well-being, time and the quality of parents’ jobs. Aust Bull Labour 33:202–225
20.
Muthen L, Muthen B (1998–2011) Mplus user’s guide. Muthen & Muthen, Los Angeles
21.
22.
Hu L, Bentler P (1999) Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Struct Equ Model 6:1–55CrossRef
23.
Lawrence D, Mitrou F, Zubrick S (2011) Non-specific psychological distress, smoking status and smoking cessation: United States National Health Interview Survey 2005. BMC Public Health 11(256):1558–1559
24.
25.
Smith M (2004) Parental mental health: disruptions to parenting and outcomes for children. Child Family Soc Work 9:3–11CrossRef
26.
Ramchandani P, Stein A, Evans J, O’Connor T (2005) Paternal depression in the postnatal period and child development: a prospective population study. Lancet 365(9478):2201–2205PubMedCrossRef
27.
Paulson J (2010) Focusing on depression in expectant and new fathers: prenatal and postpartum depression not limited to mothers. Psychiatric Times 27(2):48–52
28.
Allen T, Herst D, Bruck C, Sutton M (2000) Consequences associated with work-to-family conflict: a review and agenda for future research. J Occup Health Psychol 5:278–308PubMedCrossRef
29.
Jones T, Prinz R (2005) Potential roles of parental self-efficacy in parent and child adjustment: a review. Clin Psychol Rev 25(3):341–363PubMedCrossRef
30.
Bandura A (1997) Self-efficacy: the exercise of control. Freeman, New York
31.
Coleman P, Karraker K (1997) Self-efficacy and parenting quality: findings and future applications. Dev Rev 18(1):47–85CrossRef
32.
33.
Bray RB (2001) Hardship in Australia: an analysis of financial stress indicators in the 1989–99 Australian Bureau of Statistics Household Expenditure Survey (Occasional Paper No. 4). Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, ACT
34.
35.
Sanson AV, Prior M, Garino E, Oberklaid F, Sewell E (1987) The structure of infant temperament: factor analysis of Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire. Infant Behav Dev 10:97–104CrossRef
36.
Kessler RC, Andrews G, Colpe L, Hiripi E, Mroczek DK, Normand SL, Walters EE, Zaslavsky AM (2002) Short screen scales to monitor population prevalence and trends in non-specific psychological distress. Psychol Med 32:959–976PubMedCrossRef
37.
Sharpley CF, Rodgers G (1984) Preliminary evaluation of the Spanier Dyadic Adjustment Scale: some psychometric data regarding a screening test of marital adjustment. Educ Psychol Meas 44:1045–1049CrossRef
38.
39.
Jones FL, McMillan J (2001) Scoring occupational categories for social research: a review of current practices with Australian examples. Work Employ Soc 15:539–563CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Factors associated with trajectories of psychological distress for Australian fathers across the early parenting period
Authors
Rebecca Giallo
Fabrizio D’Esposito
Amanda Cooklin
Daniel Christensen
Jan M. Nicholson
Publication date
01-12-2014
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 12/2014
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0834-z

Other articles of this Issue 12/2014

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 12/2014 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Bipolar disorder and criminal offending: a data linkage study

Original Paper

Patient, psychiatrist and family carer experiences of community treatment orders: qualitative study

Commentary (Invited)

Posttraumatic growth in the aftermath of a disaster: looking for the role of gender

Original Paper

Personality disorders are important risk factors for disability pensioning

Original Paper

The influence of deprivation on suicide mortality in urban and rural Queensland: an ecological analysis

Original Paper

The relationship between post traumatic stress disorder and post traumatic growth: gender differences in PTG and PTSD subgroups