Paternal perinatal mental health and early child development: An outcome-wide analysis

Paternal mental health (PMH) has been shown to associate with child development as early as infancy. However, the moderating effects of certain contextual factors remain poorly understood. Using data from the French SEPAGES cohort, an outcome-wide analytic approach was used to investigate the relationship between PMH during pregnancy (n = 166), 0-12 months postnatally (n = 117), and 12-24 months postnatally (n = 207) with child socioemotional, behavioral and cognitive outcomes at two and three years. Mother's mental health, child sex and parent's professional class were then tested as potential moderators. Findings revealed no significant associations between paternal depression or anxiety with any measure of child development. However, mother's professional class and maternal prenatal depression moderated the association between paternal anxiety and several areas of child development, with children of lower maternal professional classes showing poorer cognitive outcomes but improved social perception when exposed to paternal anxiety. Children exposed to paternal anxiety showed worse working memory outcomes and future-oriented tasks and organization when also exposed to maternal depression. While our findings contrast with current research, showing no relationship between PMH and child development, they highlight the importance of considering family socioeconomic position when studying the relationship between PMH and child development.