a Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds , Leeds , UK.
Psychol Health. 2014;29(6):717-35. doi: 10.1080/08870446.2014.885523. Epub 2014 Mar 5.
Postnatal depression affects approximately 15% of women in Western countries. There are conflicting findings about the effects on fathers as well as the extent to which fathers buffer against the negative effects of depression on children. This study sought to understand the ways in which maternal postnatal depression affects men and their ways of fathering.
Narrative interviews were conducted with 14 British fathers (mean age = 33.9 years) whose (ex)partners had experienced at least one episode of postnatal depression. Interviews explored how their partner's depression affected them, the partner relationship, their children and their ways of fathering. Data were analysed with interpretative phenomenological analysis.
Men felt that their partner's depression led to significant physical and/or psychological maternal absence as well as a fracturing of the family unit, which had been an important ideological foundation for men's fathering. Unequal divisions of labour, unfulfilled expectations, a thwarting of preferred ways of fathering and preoccupation with their partner's depression took some men away from fathering. Others reported adaptation by accepting the loss of shared parenting and investing in an exclusive father-child relationship. Fathering appears to be particularly affected by the loss of a close adult relationship.
产后抑郁症影响了大约 15%的西方国家的女性。对于父亲的影响以及父亲是否能缓解抑郁对孩子的负面影响，存在相互矛盾的发现。本研究旨在了解产后抑郁症如何影响男性及其为人父的方式。
对 14 名英国父亲（平均年龄=33.9 岁）进行了叙述性访谈，他们的（前妻）伴侣至少经历了一次产后抑郁症发作。访谈探讨了伴侣的抑郁如何影响他们、伴侣关系、他们的孩子以及他们为人父的方式。使用解释性现象学分析对数据进行了分析。
男性感到，伴侣的抑郁导致了母亲在身体和/或心理上的明显缺失，以及家庭单位的破裂，这是男性为人父的一个重要思想基础。劳动分工不平等、期望未得到满足、为人父的首选方式受阻以及对伴侣抑郁的关注，使一些男性远离了为人父的角色。其他人则报告说，他们通过接受共同育儿的丧失和投资于独家的父子关系来适应。为人父似乎特别受到亲密成人关系丧失的影响。
