Mental health research has long focused on maternal depression as a risk factor for the development of psychopathology in children, but new research suggests that paternal depression should not be overlooked in children with behavioral or emotional problems.

Researchers from the NYU School of Medicine analyzed data from a sample of children, aged 5 to 17 years, using the Columbia Impairment Scale (CIS) to assess emotional or behavioral functioning of children and the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) to analyze maternal and paternal depressive symptoms. The Physical Component Scale (PCS) and Mental Component Scale (MCS) were used to investigate maternal and paternal physical and mental health. The study results were published online today in the December 2011 Pediatrics. The authors write:

This study, from a sample of 22,000 children and their mothers and fathers representative of the entire US population, demonstrates that living with fathers with depressive symptoms and other mental health problems is independently associated with increased rates of emotional or behavioral problems among school-aged children and adolescents. The ?ndings also indicate that the risks of child emotional or behavioral problems are much greater if mothers, rather than fathers, have such problems. Paternal mental health problems are independently associated with a 33 percent to 70 percent increased risk, depending on how assessed, whereas maternal mental health problems are associated with a 50 percent to 350 percent increased risk. Most striking, we believe, is the increase in child emotional or behavioral problems when both parents have such problems, with 25 percent of children living in such homes having behavioral or emotional problems.

“The paradigm needs to shift so burden is not always placed on the mother,” said lead author Michael Weitzman, M.D., over the phone. he went on to say that the role of the father needs to be considered when explicating the etiology or formulating approaches to behavioral or emotional problems in children. this may be especially important during a recession, as economic hardship may threaten a father’s perceived role as a provider and contribute to symptoms of depression, which are more likely to present as irritability, anger or substance use in men.

Limitations of this study include only sampling households with both a mother and father present, and using scales and questionnaires rather than diagnostic psychiatric interviews to assess for symptoms, making it difficult to generalize the results and stopping short of identifying specific emotional or behavioral problems in the children sampled.

In my clinical experience, most so-called ADHD children are not receiving sufficient attention from their fathers who are separated from the family, too preoccupied with work and other things, or otherwise impaired in their ability to parent. in many cases the appropriate diagnosis is Dad Attention Deficit Disorder (DADD). The ‘cure’ for these children is more rational and loving attention from their dads. Young people are nowadays so hungry for the attention of a father that it can come from any male adult. Seemingly impulsive, hostile groups of children will calm down when a caring, relaxed and firm adult male is around.

Many are quick to dismiss Dr. Breggin’s opinions as extreme, and by no means are all cases of childhood ADHD, anxiety or depression responsive to more emotionally or physically available fathers, but why does it seem inconvenient to consider it a possibility in some cases? What’s the downside to caregivers trying whatever they can, including treating their own depression or anxiety, to develop stable, loving relationships with their children?