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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
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Paternal perinatal mental health and early child development: An outcome-wide analysis

Honor Scarlett1, Xavier Benarous1,2, Angèle Consoli1,3,4

  • 1INSERM Unit 1136, Institut Pierre Louis d'Epidémiologie et de Santé Publique (IPLESP), Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.

Infant Mental Health Journal
|June 11, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Paternal mental health (PMH) showed no direct link to child development. However, maternal socioeconomic factors and prenatal depression moderated the impact of paternal anxiety on children's cognitive and social outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Child Development
  • Maternal and Child Health
  • Psychiatry

Background:

  • Paternal mental health (PMH) is increasingly recognized for its influence on child development.
  • Existing research often overlooks contextual factors that may moderate the PMH-child development relationship.
  • Understanding these moderators is crucial for comprehensive family health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between paternal mental health during pregnancy and early childhood with child developmental outcomes.
  • To examine the moderating roles of maternal mental health, child sex, and parental socioeconomic status.
  • To identify specific contextual factors influencing the PMH-child development nexus.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from the French SEPAGES cohort study.
  • Employed an outcome-wide analytic approach to assess multiple child developmental domains.
  • Analyzed paternal mental health (depression, anxiety) at three key time points (prenatal, 0-12 months, 12-24 months postnatal).
  • Tested maternal mental health, child sex, and parent's professional class as moderators.

Main Results:

  • No significant direct associations were found between paternal depression or anxiety and child developmental outcomes.
  • Maternal professional class and maternal prenatal depression significantly moderated the effects of paternal anxiety.
  • Children of lower maternal professional classes exposed to paternal anxiety showed poorer cognitive outcomes but enhanced social perception.
  • Paternal anxiety combined with maternal depression was linked to worse working memory and organizational skills in children.

Conclusions:

  • The study found no direct link between paternal mental health and child development, contrasting with some existing literature.
  • Maternal socioeconomic position and prenatal mental health are critical moderators in the PMH-child development relationship.
  • These findings underscore the importance of a holistic family-centered approach, considering socioeconomic context, when evaluating paternal mental health's impact.

Keywords:
anxietychilddepressiondevelopmentfathermental healthsocioeconomic

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