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Stereotypically, parenting is considered the domain of mothers. However, what happens when a mother cannot successfully fulfill that role? Multiple studies on mothers with depression found that depressed mothers perceive more difficulty in parenting than do non-depressed mothers and engage in more irritable and hostile behavior during interactions with their infants (Lovejoy et al., 2000; Goodman J. H., 2008). Infants whose mothers are not nurturing or responsive to their needs are at risk for a range of adverse psychosocial outcomes such as insecure attachments (Belsky, 1981). Although not often studied, fathers could compensate for a mother whose parenting is impaired, potentially serving as a buffer to the effects of maternal depression (Hossian et al., 1994). This study was designed to examine three constructs of father involvement – engagement, accessibility, and responsibility – in the lives of 3-month old infants of mothers being treated for depression and/or anxiety. Fathers completed a phone interview addressing engagement and accessibility and a survey on their perceptions of their own and the mothers’ responsibilities. Mothers completed parallel measures of responsibility. Psychopathology in both parents was measured through a diagnostic interview and depression in mothers was measured with the Beck Depression Inventory-II. While the preliminary results of this study are not significant, they show trends indicating that fathers perceive themselves as having more responsibility in the lives of their infants than mothers perceive the fathers to have. Furthermore, the trends indicate that more severe levels of maternal depression are associated with less father involvement. This study is part of a larger study and will be continued for at least two additional years. At that time, the sample size will be larger and the results are predicted to attain statistical significance.
Depression in mothers is associated with more negative qualities of interactions with their infants, including more hostility and less responsiveness (Lovejoy, et al., 2000)
- Infants are dependent on involved, sensitive and responsive parenting for their healthy development (Sroufe et al., 2005)
- Stress and Parenting Model (Simons et al., 1993)
The model indicates that spouse support has a direct effect on parenting and an indirect effect on parents’ psychological well-being.
Husbands stereotypically have more of a choice in how active they are as parents than do mothers. During stressful times (such as a maternal depressive episode), fathers may provide even less support, thus increasing the psychological distress of mothers (Simons et al., 1993). Recent studies support this notion that partners of women who are depressed believe parenting to be more stressful and experience less father-infant involvement (Goodman, 2008).
Stress and Parenting Model
Infants’ qualities of interaction with their depressed mothers did not generalize to their interactions with their nondepressed fathers (Hossain et al., 1994). This suggests that infants of depressed mothers may benefit from having a nondepressed father who is involved with the infant. Additionally, a recent study reported that maternal depression increased father involvement with the infant (Boyce et al., 2006).
Mothers’ perceptions of the fathers’ roles are better predictors of the fathers’ actual involvement in the life of the infant than the fathers’ perception of his own role (McBride et al., 2005). Furthermore, mothers perceive fathers to be less involved in the life of the infant than mothers perceive themselves to be (McBride et al., 1992).
Hypothesis
1. There will be a discrepancy between mother and father impressions of how involved each is in the life of their infant. Mothers will perceive themselves to be more involved and the fathers to be less involved than the fathers perceive themselves to be.
2. The more severe the mother’s depression is, the stronger the association with fathers’ parenting it will have. The fathers may take on more responsibility, be more accessible and more available, or they may provide less support, possibly in order to distance themselves from the stressful situation.
3. Depression will negatively influence parents’ satisfaction with fathers’ involvement. The degree of discrepancy between how parenting actually is, and how, in an ideal world, the parents would like for it to be will be positively associated with the level of depression in mothers.
Measures
- Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Time Diary (Hofferth, et al., 1998) – Father completed the time diary interview to assess accessibility and availability for weekdays and weekends.
- Parental Responsibility Scale (PRS) (McBride & Mills, 1993) and Child Care Activity Questionnaire (CCAQ) (Montague & Walker-Andrews, 2002) - Items from the two scales were combined to assess, separately, father and mother responsibility as they perceive it to be currently and how they would like for it to be. Scores are a sum across items and range from 24 to 120 - higher scores indicating more father involvement. A difference score was calculated (ideal-actual) for each parent with positive difference scores indicating more desired father involvement.
- Beck Depression Inventory-II (Beck, 1996) – A self-report measure of current depression symptom severity.
Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) (First et al., 2002) - A semi-structured interview designed to diagnose Axis I disorders.
Participants were 20 mothers and fathers who had consented to participate in a larger study of the effects of perinatal depression, anxiety, and stress on infant vulnerabilities to the later development of psychopathology. Of participating mothers, 44.9% of fathers consented to participate and 50% of consenting fathers completed the measures when the infants were 3-months old. There were no differences on demographic variables and fathers’ diagnostic status between fathers that had consented and fathers that had not, and there were no differences on demographic variables and mothers’ diagnostic status between mothers whose infants’ fathers had consented and mothers whose had not. Of the families with data from fathers at 3-months postpartum, 90% of the parents were married. The mean age of mothers was 32.54(SD 4.40) and the mean age for fathers was 35.79(SD 6.30). Mothers had completed an average of 16.45(SD 1.91) years of education; 16.75(SD 2.05) for fathers. The average Hollingshead socioeconomic status (SES) scale for mothers and fathers was 53.75(SD 6.34), indicating middle to upper-middle class. When the infants were 3-months of age, data on fathering were collected from fathers through phone interviews (95%) or in person in the lab (5%) and from mothers in person in the lab. Mothers completed the BDI-II. Both parents had completed the SCID during the mother’s pregnancy
A paired samples t-test was conducted to determine if there was a discrepancy in the parental responsibility reports between mothers and fathers. There was a difference between mother perceived responsibility (M=49.52, SD=9.08) and father perceived responsibility (M=55, SD=13.43), t(16)=1.81, p=.08. The mean decrease in responsibility scores was 5.48 with a 95% confidence interval ranging from -.96 to 11.87. The eta squared statistic (.17) indicated a larger effect size (Cohen, 1988). Fathers perceive themselves to be more involved in parenting responsibilities than mothers perceive fathers to be.
Depression severity was not related to parents’ satisfaction with fathers’ responsibilities. Maternal depression was not correlated with how satisfied mothers were with the fathers’ parental responsibilities, r=.14, n=42, p=.37. Additionally, there was no correlation between maternal depression levels and how satisfied fathers were with their parental responsibilities, r=.13, n=14, p=.66.
Adding to the literature showing that maternal depression is associated with adverse outcomes in infants, these preliminary findings suggest that maternal depression also is associated with less father involvement in the life of the infant. In turn, infants may be more exposed to maternal depression than they would be if the father was more involved. Additionally, the father, especially if he is psychiatrically well, can not serve as a buffer if he is not engaged with or accessible to his infant.
Future Directions
-These preliminary analyses will serve as the basis for my senior honor’s thesis. Data collection will continue for the next two years in order to provide a more substantial sample size. Additionally, data will be collected at infant ages of 6- and 12-months. Additional analyses will include data on the fathers’ current principal diagnosis to test the prediction that fathers’ depression will be associated with less involvement in the life of the infant.
Acknowledgements
This material is based upon work supported by National Institute of Mental Health, 1 P50 MH077928-01A1, Perinatal Stress and Gene Influences: Pathways to Infant Vulnerability, A Translational Research Center in Behavioral Science at Emory University School of Medicine (Zachary Stowe, M.D., P.I. of the Center, Sherryl Goodman, Ph.D., P.I. of Project 3, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Grant No. 52005872.
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