The impact of maternal postnatal depression on men and their ways of fathering: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Objectives: Postnatal depression affects approximately 15% of women in Western countries. There are conflicting findings about the effects on fathers as well as the extent to which fathers buffer against the negative effects of depression on children. This study sought to understand the ways in which maternal postnatal depression affects men and their ways of fathering.

Design: Narrative interviews were conducted with 14 British fathers (mean age?=?33.9?years) whose (ex)partners had experienced at least one episode of postnatal depression. Interviews explored how their partner’s depression affected them, the partner relationship, their children and their ways of fathering. Data were analysed with interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Results and Conclusions: Men felt that their partner’s depression led to significant physical and/or psychological maternal absence as well as a fracturing of the family unit, which had been an important ideological foundation for men’s fathering. Unequal divisions of labour, unfulfilled expectations, a thwarting of preferred ways of fathering and preoccupation with their partner’s depression took some men away from fathering. Others reported adaptation by accepting the loss of shared parenting and investing in an exclusive father–child relationship. Fathering appears to be particularly affected by the loss of a close adult relationship.     

My Mother: My Best Friend? Adults’ Relationships with Significant Others Across the Lifespan

In order to investigate the significance of adults’ relationship to their parents, this relationship is compared to relationships with siblings, friends, partners, and children. German adults (N = 902) between the ages of 20 and 86 completed the Network of Relationships Inventory (Furman and Buhrmester 1992). Participants felt most supported by their partners, followed by their children, mothers, friends, fathers, and siblings. Conflicts were more frequently found within the family (especially with the partner, followed by children, mothers, fathers, and siblings) than with friends. Except for partner relationships, both conflict and support decreased with age. Concerning relative power within their relationships, partners, mothers, and siblings are seen as equals, friends and especially fathers are perceived as more powerful, and children as less, yet increasingly powerful. Regarding all relationship types and relationship qualities, the differences between women and men were small.     

Gendered Division of Childrearing: Ideals,Realities, and the Relationship to Parental Well-Being

Recent cultural expectations about fathers' involvement in childrearing may have changed more rapidly than fathers' behaviors, creating discrepancies between parenting ideals and realities that can generate tensions in family life. In this study, a 1999 national probability sample of 234 married parents, both mothers and fathers expressed strongly egalitarian ideals that fathers should be equally involved in child-rearing across five nurturant domains—discipline, emotional support, play, monitoring, and care-giving—as well as in financial support. In contrast, mothers perceived much less father involvement in actual parenting than fathers perceived—especially in disciplining and providing emotional support for their children. Ideal–actual discrepancies were related to well-being: if fathers were seen as less than ideally involved in nurturant parenting, parents reported more stress and fathers who perceived greater than ideal father involvement in financial support were more likely to say the division of household labor was unfair to the mother. Ideal–actual gaps differed for mothers and fathers and were sometimes differentially related to well-being. For example, less than ideal father involvement in disciplining children was associated with mothers' higher stress levels, and the discrepancy in expectations about father involvement in play and monitoring children was correlated with mothers' increased feelings of unfairness in the household division of labor. On the other hand, fathers who felt an ideal–actual gap in disciplining children almost always felt overly involved in discipline and were less likely to report that the division of labor in the household was unfair to their spouses.     

Experiences of young adult women with emotionally absent fathers

This study explored the experiences of young adult women (n = 11) who grew up with emotionally absent fathers. The women (White: Afrikaans) were between the ages of 20 and 31 (5 were married, 1 was engaged, 1 was in a relationship, and 4 were single). The participants completed in-depth interviews regarding their retrospective perceptions of emotionally absent father experiences and the related effects on them. Data were thematically analyzed. Findings indicated that the participants experienced difficulty in sharing emotions with their fathers and fathers did not show affection or express their love. The participants perceived their fathers to have shown no interest, approval or acknowledgement of them, and viewed them as untrustworthy. They also believed that relationship qualities with their fathers influenced how they related to men in general. Father emotional absence negatively impacts on daughter's emotional well-being.     

Interaction of sex and sex role in response to violations of preferred seating arrangements

Previous studies have indicated that men respond negatively to face-to-face invasion by strangers; females respond negatively to side-by-side invasion by strangers. In the first of two studies, men and women with an androgynous or traditional sex role were subjected to a face-to-face invasion by a same-sexed stranger. Men with a traditional sex role and women with an androgynous sex role felt more crowded (p<.05) than androgynous men and traditional women. Perceptions of crowding in these two groups were also accompanied by performance decrements as a result of the face-to-face invasion. In the second study, androgynous and traditional men and women were subjected to a side-by-side invasion. Women with a traditional sex role felt more crowded than all other groups (p<.05). There were no differences in perceptions of crowding among the other groups of subjects. Performance decrements were found only in women with a traditional orientation.     

Father Involvement and Young,Rural African American Men’s Engagement in Substance Misuse and Multiple Sexual Partnerships

This study was designed to examine the associations of biological father and social father involvement during childhood with African American young men’s development and engagement in risk behaviors. With a sample of 505 young men living in the rural South of the United States, a dual mediation model was tested in which retrospective reports of involvement from biological fathers and social fathers were linked to young men’s substance misuse and multiple sexual partnerships through men’s relational schemas and future expectations. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that levels of involvement from biological fathers and social fathers predicted young men’s relational schemas; only biological fathers’ involvement predicted future expectations. In turn, future expectations predicted levels of substance misuse, and negative relational schemas predicted multiple sexual partnerships. Biological fathers’ involvement evinced significant indirect associations with young men’s substance misuse and multiple sexual partnerships through both schemas and expectations; social fathers’ involvement exhibited an indirect association with multiple sexual partnerships through relational schemas. Findings highlight the unique influences of biological fathers and social fathers on multiple domains of African American young men’s psychosocial development that subsequently render young men more or less likely to engage in risk behaviors.     

The place of advice: Japanese parents' sources of information about childrearing and child health

A survey of 1,150 fathers and 1,147 mothers in four regions of Japan (mean ages: FATHERS = 36.7, MOTHERS = 33.8, CHILDREN = 4.4 years) documented Japanese parents' sources of advice and information about young children. Mothers reported receiving more advice and information from more sources, compared with fathers. However, more husbands and wives cited “my spouse” than any other potential source of advice, and men and women expressed a high level of confidence in each other. Relatively few parents said that they had used professional advice. It is apparent that various sources of parenting knowledge can be facilitated to alleviate the stress felt by today's increasingly isolated parents.     

Male callers to an Australian perinatal depression and anxiety help line—Understanding issues and concerns

There is increasing recognition of the issues facing men in the perinatal period. Vulnerability factors and issues in the partner relationship contribute to mental health risk and can impact the quality of the father–infant relationship. Yet, there is limited understanding of fathers’ help-seeking when they or their partner are experiencing mental health issues in the context of caring for a new baby. The present study examines fathers’ contacts with the Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia (PANDA) National Helpline. The study reviewed contacts from fathers and their identified needs for assistance, relationship issues, and support needs; 70% of male callers (N = 129) reported concerns about the mother's mental health, and 57% were concerned about relationship breakdown. Significant numbers of men raised issues about their own mental health (43%) and many were concerned about the impact of maternal mental state on the relationship with the infant. When compared to community data, there were elevated rates of concerns about depression and anxiety. Men also described difficulties with the fathering role and with regulating their own feelings of guilt and frustration. These findings highlight the needs of men for support when a mother experiences perinatal problems and also the risk for distress in fathers.     

Human affection exchange: VI. Further tests of reproductive probability as a predictor of men's affection with their adult sons

The authors examined the communication of affection in men's relationships with their fathers. Drawing from Affection Exchange Theory, the authors advanced four predictions: (a) heterosexual men receive more affection from their own fathers than do homosexual or bisexual men, (b) fathers communicate affection to their sons more through supportive activities than through direct verbal statements or nonverbal gestures, (c) affectionate communication between fathers and sons is linearly related to closeness and interpersonal involvement between them, and (d) fathers' awareness of their sons' sexual orientation is associated with the amount of affection that the fathers communicate to them. Participants were 170 adult men who completed questionnaires regarding affectionate communication in their relationships with their fathers. Half of the men were self-identified as exclusively heterosexual, and the other half were self-identified as exclusively homosexual or bisexual. The results supported all predictions substantially.     

Symptoms of depression in Swedish fathers in the postnatal period and development of a screening tool

Methods for detecting depression in fathers after the birth of their child are scarce. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), used to screen mothers for postpartum depression (PPD), lacks somatization and externalizing items. This potentially decreases its sensitivity in detecting depression in fathers, as many men actually express depression with somatization or externalizing symptoms. The present study assessed depressive symptoms in fathers of children 0–18 months old, and evaluated whether addressing both typical depression and externalizing, so‐called “depressive equivalent” symptoms, might be more suitable for such assessment. The Beck Depression Inventory‐II (BDI‐II), EPDS, and Gotland Male Depression Scale (GMDS) were responded to by 447 Swedish fathers online. Among participants, 27% reported depressive symptoms above the BDI‐II cut‐off suggestive of depression. Most fathers reported both traditional and depressive equivalent symptoms and a subgroup expressed exclusively depressive equivalent symptoms. Consistently, a scale combining items from the EPDS and GMDS showed higher sensitivity than the EPDS alone in identifying fathers with elevated depressive symptoms, at equal levels of specificity. Our findings suggest that a combination of EPDS and depressive equivalent symptom items results in a more suitable instrument for screening for depression in fathers during the postnatal period.     

Undisclosed Paternal Identity in Narratives of Distress Among Young People in Eastern Cape,South Africa

Life trajectories of children with no connections to support from their fathers have received research attention. Within this group is a sub-group who do not know their fathers and no research has attempted to understand their experiences. We present accounts of how young South Africans deal with and seek to uncover undisclosed paternity. Forty young men and women aged 16 to 22 volunteered to participate in a qualitative study on distress that was conducted in the Eastern Cape Province. All interviews were conducted in isiXhosa, following a semi-structured guide. Our findings show that interest in father identity was motivated by harsh circumstances in the maternal home, notably when financial difficulties, exclusion from critical decision making and bullying by non-biological siblings were felt. The search for father identity was pursued in solitude by some participants: their fear of elders’ response restrained them from asking. Some thought that it would be interpreted as being disrespectful and ungrateful to ask ‘such a question’, whilst others worried that they might be victimized or, worse, thrown out by their mothers or maternal guardians. We present accounts of accidental disclosures by strangers and also inadvertent involvement in an incestuous relationship. Open and honest communication with children about their paternal identity should be promoted to prevent the currents of silence, secrecy and anxiety, and avoid unpleasant surprises for the children.     

Fathers for Change for Substance Use and Intimate Partner Violence: Initial Community Pilot

The lack of focus on the role of men as fathers within intervention programs for men with histories of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) or substance abuse is of significant concern given the large numbers of these men who are actively parenting and coparenting children. Fathers for Change is a new intervention designed to fill this gap. Eighteen fathers with co‐occurring IPV and substance abuse were randomly assigned to Fathers for Change or Individual Drug Counseling (IDC). They were assessed at baseline, post‐intervention and 3 months following the 16‐week intervention period. Men in the Fathers for Change group: (1) were more likely to complete treatment; (2) reported significantly greater satisfaction with the program; (3) reported a trend toward less IPV; and (4) exhibited significantly less intrusiveness in coded play interactions with their children following treatment than fathers in the IDC group. Results indicate further evaluation of this intervention in a larger sample is warranted. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.     

Similarities and differences in mothers'' and fathers'' grief following the death of an infant

The differences between mothers' and fathers' grief following the death of an infant child were investigated. From a total sample of 117 parents, 53% women and 47% men, answering a survey on different grief reactions 1 to 4 years following the death. 55 families where both partners responded, were selected. Measures relating to anxiety, depression, impact of event, bodily discomfort, and general well being were included. The results demonstrated fairly strong differences between the partners' reactions, with mothers typically experiencing more intense and long-lasting reactions than fathers. Mothers also tended to perceive their family and friends as less supportive than fathers, while fathers were least satisfied with the support received from the hospital. Most parents felt the death had brought them closer together, although a considerable number reported feeling more distance to their partner. Mothers scored significantly higher than the fathers on experience of recovery, state anxiety (STAI), depression (Beck Depression Inventory), bodily symptoms (Bodily Symptom Scale) and intrusive images and thoughts (Impact of Event Scale, IES Intrusion). A high score in one spouse was correlated with a high score in the other, and vice versa. It is emphasized that the results showing parental differences in grief should help us tailor psychoeducational and therapeutical intervention for bereaved families.     

The relation between remembered parental acceptance in childhood and self‐acceptance among young Turkish adults

This study examined the relation between young adults' age and remembrances of parental acceptance in childhood, and their current self‐acceptance. The study was based on a sample of 236 young adults in Turkey (139 women and 97 men). The adult version of the Parental Acceptance‐Rejection/Control Questionnaire for mothers and fathers along with the Self‐Acceptance subscale of the Psychological Well‐Being Scale, and the Personal Information Form were used as measures. Results showed that both men and women tended to remember having been accepted in childhood by both their mothers and fathers. Women, however, reported more maternal and paternal acceptance in childhood than did men. Similarly, the level of self‐acceptance was high among both men and women. However, women's self‐acceptance was higher than men's. Correlational analyses showed that self‐acceptance was positively related to remembrances of maternal and paternal acceptance among both women and men. Results indicated that age and remembered paternal acceptance significantly predicted women's self‐acceptance. Age and remembered maternal acceptance made significant and independent contributions to men's self‐acceptance. Men's remembrances of paternal acceptance in childhood did not make significant contribution to their self‐acceptance. Finally, the relation between women's age and self‐acceptance was significantly moderated by remembrances of paternal acceptance in childhood.     

Resemblance and investment in children

According to evolutionary explanations men hardly ever are absolutely certain about their biological fatherhood therefore they must seek various sources of information to subjectively establish whether they are the genetic fathers of the children they raise. Apicella and Marlowe (2004) showed that fathers who perceived greater similarity between their children and themselves were willing to invest more resources (e.g., time, money, care) in their offspring presumably because the perceived resemblance indicated to the fathers their genetic relatedness with their children. The present study extended the design of Apicella and Marlowe's original study and included both fathers and mothers as participants. Parents were recruited by a female confederate at the airport and at the railway station in Wroclaw (Poland). Multiple regression analyses showed that perceived resemblance predicted parental investment in the child for both men and women. The fact that mothers' declarations of investment in their children also depended on the perceived resemblance factor is not consistent with evolutionary formulations delineated by Apicella and Marlowe (2004; 2007). Future studies must resolve the issue of whether the resemblance‐investment relation in fathers results from men relaying on child's resemblance to themselves as an indicator of their own biological paternity, or whether it results from the more parsimonious phenomenon that people in general are attracted more to other people who are similar to them.     

The emergent father role

Using data collected before and after birth of a couple's first child, change in each parent's view of men as fathers was investigated in a short-term longitudinal study. Semantic differential scales tapped the man's image of self as father, the woman's image of husband as father, and each parent's rating of the baby's adjustment. Interview questions provided information on circumstances of the birth, the father's early child care activities, and parents' previous child care experience. Men's judgments of their own effectiveness as fathers declined from before the birth to afterward. Wives' judgments of their husbands' effectiveness as fathers also declined over that same period, but wives rated husbands higher than husbands rated themselves at both times. A single-equation multiple regression model, adapted from a structural model, was estimated to explain change in both spouses' ratings of the man's paternal role competence. It revealed that working-class spouses agreed on the basis for their judgments of the father's role performance, in that both judged him mainly in terms of how much he participated in child care. Middle-class spouses disagreed on the basis for their judgments of fathers, however. The middle-class men rated their own performance in the father role mainly in terms of the baby's adjustment; if they judged the baby to be happier, they judged themselves to be more competent as fathers. The middle-class women did not rate fathers on that basis. Instead, the middle-class women's ratings responded to the circumstances of the birth and to the father's participation in child care chores. Findings are discussed in terms of family role theory, social-class differences in the father's role, and recent change in expectations for men's parental role.This research was supported by NIMH Grant No. MH15735 and earlier by NICHD Grant No. HD 13103.     

Success and Failure, Gender Differences, and the Menstrual Cycle

Eighty-one women and 26 men were led to succeed or fail at a task. No differences in actual performance were found between men and women or among women in different menstrual phases. Although they had participated alone, women felt worse, less competent, and less "up" than men after both success and failure. After success women also felt less satisfied, felt they had made lower scores, expected to perform worse, and rewarded themselves less than men. After success, women who were menstruating at the time of the experiment reported feeling better than women in other menstrual phases on most measures. A possible explanation was that menstruating women may have expected to perform poorly.     

Do Promise Keepers Dream of Feminist Sheep?

This article describes a qualitative researchstudy of Promise Keeper fathers. Twenty-two middleclass, primarily White suburban fathers were interviewedin focus groups abouttheir fathering experiences. The grounded theory analysis found that the menwere experiencing gender role strain as they tried toconform to traditional masculine role norms. The PromiseKeeper movement provided them with an ideology and social supportsystem that facilitated theirbecoming more involved fathers, while simultaneouslyreassuring them that they were the leaders of theirfamilies. Using these supports, the men were able to construct a more personally gratifyingfatherhood identity. These results suggest a possibleinterpretation of why the Promise Keeper movement hasappealed to more men than has the pro-feminist men's movement.