The Impact of Father Absence on Child Mental Health: Three Possible Outcomes

Author(s):  
Andrew Briggs
Author(s):  
Yuna Koyama ◽  
Takeo Fujiwara ◽  
Aya Isumi ◽  
Satomi Doi ◽  
Manami Ochi

2018 ◽  
Vol 89 ◽  
pp. 212-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Murnan ◽  
Qiong Wu ◽  
Natasha Slesnick

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evren Morgul ◽  
Angeliki Kallitsoglou ◽  
Cecilia A. Essau

Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. Culture can influence emotional and behavioural responses to the pandemic and its consequences, but research is primarily focused on single culture experiences. The study examined the impact of caregiver emotional responses to the pandemic and the lockdown on child mental health and wellbeing in two culturally different countries that were severely affected by the pandemic: UK and Turkey Method: Participants were 1849 caregivers of children between 5- and 12-years old living in the UK (n= 995) and Turkey (n = 854), who completed a 20 -min electronic survey on child and family wellbeing distributed via social networks during the initial phase of the COVID-19 lockdown (July and August 2020). Findings: Worry of COVID-19 infection was higher amongst caregivers in the Turkish sample and it independently predicted change in children’s internalising behaviour in the Turkish sample only even after controlling for caregiver and child mental health, and caregiver perceived risk of COVID-19 infection. Caregivers in the UK sample reported more difficulty with family coexistence during the stay-at-home orders. However, difficulty with coexistence independently predicted change in children’s externalising and internalising symptoms before and during the lockdown in both samples. The study revealed cross-cultural differences in the predictors of change in children’s internalising and externalising behaviour before and during the initial national COVID-19 lockdown.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. e100211
Author(s):  
Arefayne Alenko ◽  
Shimelis Girma ◽  
Mubarek Abera ◽  
Abdulhalik Workicho

BackgroundIn sub-Saharan countries, one in five children and one in three women experiences emotional and behavioural problems (EBPs) and depression, respectively. While various factors were reported to affect the mental health of children, little is known about the impact of maternal depression on the offspring. Moreover, the magnitude of children’s EBPs is barely known in Ethiopia.AimTo determine the magnitude of child EBPs and its association with maternal depression in Jimma town, southwest Ethiopia.MethodsA quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among 734 mother–child pairs in Jimma town from January to June, 2019. EBP was assessed by using the parent version of Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) with cut-off score of ≥14. Maternal depression was assessed using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 with a cut-off score of ≥10. Data were entered into Epidata V.3.1 and exported to SPSS V.24 for analysis. Multivariable logistic regression was fitted to identify the strength of association between exposure and outcome variables.ResultsOf the 734 participants, 146 (19.9%, 95% CI: 16.9% to 22.9%) met EBP criteria based on parent version of SDQ. Maternal depression had significant association with child EBP (adjusted OR=2.38, 95% CI: 1.55 to 3.66). In addition, children aged 7–10 years, family size categories of ≤3 and 4–6, maternal intimate partner violence and maternal khat use had significant association with child EBP.Conclusions and recommendationsA significant number of children suffer from EBP in Jimma town. Maternal depression is found to be a predictor of children’s EBPs. Thus, there is a need to design and implement an integrated maternal and child mental health programme. The maternal and child health section at the national level should integrate and cascade routine maternal and child mental health screening and intervention modalities down to the family healthcare system.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1810-1821
Author(s):  
Lawrence M. Chen ◽  
Marieke S. Tollenaar ◽  
Shantala A. Hari Dass ◽  
Andrée-Anne Bouvette-Turcot ◽  
Irina Pokhvisneva ◽  
...  

AbstractMaternal antenatal depression strongly influences child mental health but with considerable inter-individual variation that is, in part, linked to genotype. The challenge is to effectively capture the genotypic influence. We outline a novel approach to describe genomic susceptibility to maternal antenatal depression focusing on child emotional/behavioral difficulties. Two cohorts provided measures of maternal depression, child genetic variation, and child mental health symptoms. We constructed a conventional polygenic risk score (PRS) for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (PRSADHD) that significantly moderated the association between maternal antenatal depression and internalizing problems at 60 months (p = 2.94 × 10−4, R2 = .18). We then constructed an interaction PRS (xPRS) based on a subset of those single nucleotide polymorphisms from the PRSADHD that most accounted for the moderation of the association between maternal antenatal depression and child outcome. The interaction between maternal antenatal depression and this xPRS accounted for a larger proportion of the variance in child emotional/behavioral problems than models based on any PRSADHD (p = 5.50 × 10−9, R2 = .27), with similar findings in the replication cohort. The xPRS was significantly enriched for genes involved in neuronal development and synaptic function. Our study illustrates a novel approach to the study of genotypic moderation on the impact of maternal antenatal depression on child mental health and highlights the utility of the xPRS approach. These findings advance our understanding of individual differences in the developmental origins of mental health.


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