Postpartum Depression is a Family Affair: Addressing the Impact on Mothers, Fathers, and Children

2012/06/29 by Nicole Lyn Letourneau, Nicole Letourneau, Cindy‐Lee Dennis +11 · 1 citation
Medicine · Psychology · #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum

paper · doi:10.3109/01612840.2012.673054

openalex publication_date 2012/06/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present research on the effects of postpartum depression (PPD) on mothers, fathers, and children that point to a re-conceptualization of PPD as a mental health condition that affects the whole family. As such, the objectives of this paper are to discuss: (1) the incidence and effects of PPD on mothers and fathers; (2) common predictors of PPD in mothers and fathers, and (3) the effects of PPD on parenting and parent-child relationships, and (4) the effects of PPD on children's health, and their cognitive and social-emotional development. Finally, the implications for screening and intervention if depression is re-conceptualized as a condition of the family are discussed.

Citations

• Perinatal Depression
• Risk for psychopathology in the children of depressed mothers: A developmental model for understanding mechanisms of transmission.
• Detection of Postnatal Depression
• Men, masculinity, and the contexts of help seeking.
• Towards a family process model of maternal and paternal depressive symptoms: exploring multiple relations with child and family functioning

Cited by

• Unravelling symptom-specific polygenic effects on maternal mental health during the perinatal period and postpartum

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