Paternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy are related to excessive infant crying
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Excessive infant crying, or infantile colic, is a common and often stress-inducing problem for parents that can ultimately result in child abuse. From previous research it is known that maternal depression is related to excessive crying, but so far little is known about the influence of paternal depression. METHODS: In a prospective, population-based study, we obtained information on both maternal and paternal depressive symptoms at 20 weeks of pregnancy by using the Brief Symptom Inventory. Parental depressive symptoms were related to excessive crying in 4426 two-month-old infants. The definition of excessive crying was based on the widely used Wessel's criteria (ie, crying >3 hours for >3 days in the past week). RESULTS: After adjustment for depressive symptoms of the mother and relevant confounders, we found a 1.29 (95% confidence interval: 1.09–1.52) higher risk of excessive infant crying per SD of paternal depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that paternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy might be a risk factor for excessive infant crying. This finding could be related to genetic transmission, interaction of a father with lasting depressive symptoms with the infant, or related indirectly through contextual stressors such as marital, familial, or economic distress.
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Paternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy raise the chance of excessive infant crying.
“Paternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy have been shown to increase likelihood of excessive infant crying (van den Berg et al. 2009).”
From The effects of paternal depression on child and adolescent outcomes: A systematic review (2016) · cites this paper as van den Berg et al. 2009
All but one study had at least one follow-up point a minimum of 6 months after baseline data collection.
“All but one of the studies had at least one follow-up point a minimum of 6 months after collection of baseline data (Van Den Berg et al. 2009).”
From The effects of paternal depression on child and adolescent outcomes: A systematic review (2016) · cites this paper as Van Den Berg et al. 2009
Negative offspring outcomes incorporated a broad range of markers, from increased risk for psychiatric disorders, oppositional defiant and conduct disorders to excessive infant crying.
“Negative offspring outcomes incorporated a broad range of marker of suboptimal outcomes from increased risk for psychiatric disorders, oppositional defiant and conduct disorders (Ramchandani et al. 2008a), to excessive infant crying (Van Den Berg et al. 2009).”
From The effects of paternal depression on child and adolescent outcomes: A systematic review (2016) · cites this paper as Van Den Berg et al. 2009
In the cited studies, participants who remained at follow-up had lower depressive symptoms than those who dropped out.
“A potential explanation for this may be that depressive symptoms of those who participated in the study at follow-up were lower than those who dropped out (Ramchandani et al. 2010;Van Den Berg et al. 2009).”
From The effects of paternal depression on child and adolescent outcomes: A systematic review (2016) · cites this paper as Van Den Berg et al. 2009
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- Authors
- van den Berg, M. P., van der Ende, J., Crijnen, A. A. M., Jaddoe, V. W. V., Moll, H. A., Mackenbach, J. P., Hofman, A., Hengeveld, M. W., Tiemeier, H., & Verhulst, F. C.
- Affiliations
- The Generation R Study Group, and Departments of
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Pediatrics
- Erasmus MC (NL)
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- Psychiatry
- Venue
- Pediatrics
- Publisher
- American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
- Published
- 2009-07-01
- Volume
- 124
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e96-e103
- ISSN
- 0031-4005 (ISSN-L)
- 1098-4275
- OpenAlex
- W2145346043
- Cited by
- 127
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 18.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- PEDIATRICS (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Infant Health and Development
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- paternal depression, infant crying, infantile colic, maternal depression, child abuse risk, genetic transmission, contextual stressors
- MeSH terms
- Colic, Crying, Depression, Father-Child Relations, Fathers, Humans, Infant, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Socioeconomic Factors, Stress, Psychological
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