WHY SO SAD?

Young Dads Face Depression Risks

Spikes at age 25.

It turns out that young fathers are at an elevated risk for their own form of postpartum depression. A study published in the May issue of Pediatrics shows that men who became fathers at around age 25 had a 68 percent increase in depressive symptoms over their first five years of being parents. Men who didn’t live with their children did not have the same elevated depression symptoms, though this was a much smaller proportion of the men examined. The study was based on data from 10,623 men whose health was tracked for about 20 years under the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. “Parental depression has a detrimental effect on kids, especially during those first key years of parent-infant attachment,” said lead study author Dr. Craig Garfield. “We need to do a better job of helping young dads transition through that time period.”