India, June 24 -- Fathers' mental health problems are linked to slightly poorer development in their children, including how they think, speak, interact with others, and grow physically, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
The researchers noted that this link is especially strong during the perinatal period, the time from pregnancy to the child's second birthday. During this stage, babies are very sensitive to their parents' mental health, especially the mother's.
The findings come from 84 earlier studies that followed thousands of fathers and their children over time. These studies measured the fathers' mental health from pregnancy upto two years after birth. Notably, researchers left out studies where fathers had medical ...