Having a stressed and depressed father can have serious implications for infants and relationships. And supporting a father who may be experiencing mental ill health means supporting the mother too.
- Associate professor, University of Newcastle
It will come as no surprise that some new fathers will be anxious or highly stressed. However, most people believe only new mums suffer postnatal depression. This is not the case.
Efforts to get fathers more involved in raising their kids often entail changing leave provisions, but research shows that’s not helping dads get more involved in caring for their children.
The new paternity leave scheme that started on January 1 may be cheap and still have a significant impact. It offers new fathers two weeks leave at minimum wage, which is only a fraction of what new dads…
The success of House Husbands, the Australian drama featuring four hands-on dads may be a signal that today’s fathers really want more involvement in their children’s lives than did previous generations…
Having a wide circle of friends is important to psychological wellbeing, but a network of relatives is more important for men according to new study from the UK. The research, published in the Journal…
If we want to survey families to discover how the children are going, we usually have to ask an adult. It seems common sense to ask the “primary carer”, usually the mother, who knows the child the best…
The idea that mental illness can harm family relationships is not new. But it’s usually the mother’s parenting that has been the centre of attention. So an article I co-wrote in today’s issue of the Medical…
The attempt to rein in offensive “shock jock” style radio commentary received mixed reaction in the media, but the notion of banning words that might demean a particular group opens up an enticing possibility…
Social issues involving young children and warring interest groups make good media fodder. So researchers involved in these areas have to decide very carefully how to promote their findings to stop their…
It comes as no surprise to see that parenting programs attract mothers. Drop into a “toddler taming” discussion, a workshop on parents and literacy or a seminar about communicating with your teenager and…
The increase in childhood obesity over the last few decades is frightening. Clearly fresh thinking is needed. New evidence of father’s impact on children’s weight gain may point us toward novel approaches…
The picture of a dad with a toddler in his arms happily waving as mum heads off to work is attractive – it suggests a more equal, sharing and caring type of world. But is this a reality of family life…
There are hopeful signs from a number of sources that the “get tough on crime” approach is working, with politicians promising the era of more prisons and longer sentences has had its day. Movements such…
Achieving equity between men and women requires keeping track of important markers of difference between the genders. While the focus has traditionally been on areas where women are most disadvantaged…
Media comment in the lead up to Father’s Day is generally a pretty tame affair, but this year fatherhood is under the hammer. Fatherlessness was named as the cause of rioting and looting in London and…
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