page_title: Paternal depression
section_title: Signs and symptoms compared to women
hierarchical_section_title: Paternal depression / Signs and symptoms compared to women
caption_attribution_description: English: Anxiety and depression symptoms in women and men from early pregnancy to 3-months postpartum
context_page_description: Paternal depression is a psychological disorder derived from parental depression. Paternal depression affects the mood of men; fathers and caregivers in particular. 'Father' may refer to the biological father, foster parent, social parent, step-parent or simply the carer of the child. This mood disorder exhibits symptoms similar to postpartum depression including anxiety, insomnia, irritability, consistent breakdown and crying episodes, and low energy. This may negatively impact family relationships and the upbringing of children. Parents diagnosed with parental depression often experience increased stress and anxiety levels during early pregnancy, labor and postpartum. Those with parental depression may have developed it early on but some are diagnosed later on from when the child is a toddler up until a young adult.
  The causes of paternal depression are unclear; however, previous experiences of mental disorders and family history can contribute to the development of paternal depression. Other factors including stress overload, sleep deprivation and unhappy relationships with one's partner or children may also affect its prevalence.
context_section_description: When comparing the anxiety level of first-time parents, women tend to have higher levels of anxiety. This is applicable to women immediately after birth and in the first three trimesters. Compared to women, men experience greater anxiety levels within the first 3 months of childbirth and develop paternal depression as the children grows older. Although depression can affect individuals in different ways, there are some gender differences between parents. Women tend to have similar depressive symptoms over all three trimesters, however in men, there are significant changes between the 1st and 2nd trimester, but not between the 2nd trimester to 3 months postpartum. Women are also more likely to experience symptoms such as developing an eating disorder, irritability, crying episodes, extreme sadness, bipolar disorder and low energy levels.  Men are more likely to experience substance abuse, a higher frequency of irritability, anger attacks and becoming abusive and violent. Men may also partake in risk-taking behaviour such as drink driving. Despite common symptoms of loss of appetite and insomnia, women are more likely to display atypical behaviours such as oversleeping and overeating. Successful suicide levels are also more often associated with fathers rather than with mothers.
caption: Prevalence of depressive symptoms in men and women from pregnancy to 3-months postpartum[6]
exif: {}