Fathers who take paternity leave are less prone to postpartum depression, according to a French study. This phenomenon is likely to affect one in ten fathers during the year following the birth of the child. On the other hand, paternity leave has no effect on the risks of postpartum depression in women.
Postpartum depression is a disease that does not only affect mothers. According to Inserm, “more than 10% of fathers are likely to develop it during the year following the birth of their child”, once morest 17% of mothers. However, according to a study conducted jointly by Inserm and the Sorbonne University at the Pierre-Louis Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health, taking two weeks of paternity leave might have a beneficial effect on the mental health of fathers. Their work is published in the journal The Lancet Public Health.
To carry out their research, the specialists followed volunteers from the Elfe cohort, which represents 18,000 children born in 2011 in France, as well as their parents, heterosexual couples (13,000 mothers and 11,000 fathers). After the birth, the couples indicated their intention to take paternity leave. 64% of fathers said they had taken paternity leave, while 17% said they intended to take it. On the other hand, 19% did not intend to take it. Two months later, the parents answered a questionnaire to define if they suffered from depression.
According to the analysis of the results, “4.5% of fathers who took paternity leave and 4.8% of those intending to use it had postpartum depression compared to 5.7% of those who did not. not having used it”, explains Inserm in a press release.
However, a two-week paternity leave would not be sufficient to protect mothers from the onset of postpartum depression. Indeed, among mothers whose partners used their two weeks of paternity leave, 16% of them had postpartum depression. Among couples whose father plans to take his leave, they were 15.1% and 15.3% among those whose partner had not taken paternity leave.
“The negative association observed in mothers might suggest that a duration of 2 weeks of paternity leave is, on the contrary, not sufficient to prevent postpartum depression in mothers”, explains Maria Melchior, researcher at Inserm in a press release. “Although we took into account many possible confounding factors, we might not sufficiently assess the pre-existence of depressive disorders apart from another pregnancy in the mothers. It is thus possible that fathers whose partner is more at risk of depression, take paternity leave more willingly”.
According to her, family policies targeted at fathers might “advance gender equality in the labor market and increase the participation of fathers in the family sphere”.
