Health & Medicine
Fathers At High Risk Of Depression In Blended Family Situations
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Feb 05, 2015 12:45 PM EST
Parenting can be an incredibly joyous experience. Yet it can also be stressful, particularly for families going through financial struggles, certain personal hardships or divorce/separation.
Researchers at Brigham Young University and Princeton examined how family stress can greatly affect the mental health of fathers. The findings are published in the journal Social Work.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 6,000 parents around the country, finding that depression risk increases for both men and women when the number of parenting roles they hold increases.
Researchers found that stressful family situations were particularly true for parents in a "yours, mine and ours" family. In these instances, this meant that a family held three parenting roles: one each for the two families that blended, and a third when a child is born into the blended family.
Study results revealed that parents in these circumstances were about 57 percent more likely to be depressed than when holding a single parental position.
"There are norms that govern parenting, but there aren't norms for being a stepparent," study author Kevin Shafer, a professor of social work at BYU, said in a news release. "Am I supposed to be an actual parent, a friend, or something like a cool uncle?"
Researchers also found that the risk can be higher for fathers with biological children who do not live with him. Added stress from the situation may be due to guilt or fear that he is not spending enough time with the children in his life on either family side.
However, there are two potential under-looked issues with the study, including the fact that men are less likely to seek professional counseling if they need help and that blended families are becoming increasingly more common. More studies will be needed on the health issue, particularly as the family dynamic continues to change shape.
"We hope clinicians recognize that parents aren't just a homogeneous group," Shafer said. "Parents show symptoms of depression in different ways than non-parents do."
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First Posted: Feb 05, 2015 12:45 PM EST
Parenting can be an incredibly joyous experience. Yet it can also be stressful, particularly for families going through financial struggles, certain personal hardships or divorce/separation.
Researchers at Brigham Young University and Princeton examined how family stress can greatly affect the mental health of fathers. The findings are published in the journal Social Work.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 6,000 parents around the country, finding that depression risk increases for both men and women when the number of parenting roles they hold increases.
Researchers found that stressful family situations were particularly true for parents in a "yours, mine and ours" family. In these instances, this meant that a family held three parenting roles: one each for the two families that blended, and a third when a child is born into the blended family.
Study results revealed that parents in these circumstances were about 57 percent more likely to be depressed than when holding a single parental position.
"There are norms that govern parenting, but there aren't norms for being a stepparent," study author Kevin Shafer, a professor of social work at BYU, said in a news release. "Am I supposed to be an actual parent, a friend, or something like a cool uncle?"
Researchers also found that the risk can be higher for fathers with biological children who do not live with him. Added stress from the situation may be due to guilt or fear that he is not spending enough time with the children in his life on either family side.
However, there are two potential under-looked issues with the study, including the fact that men are less likely to seek professional counseling if they need help and that blended families are becoming increasingly more common. More studies will be needed on the health issue, particularly as the family dynamic continues to change shape.
"We hope clinicians recognize that parents aren't just a homogeneous group," Shafer said. "Parents show symptoms of depression in different ways than non-parents do."
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone