Fathers suffering from depression are more likely to spank their children and less likely to read to them, a new study finds. The research, published in Pediatrics, found that 41 percent of fathers with depression hit their child in the last month, nearly three times as frequently as fathers who weren’t depressed, ScienceDaily reported.
The University of Michigan Health System study looked at 1,746 fathers of one-year-old children. Of those, 7 percent were diagnosed with depression. Depressed fathers were also less likely to read to their children. Forty-one percent of depressed dads read to their kids at least three times per week compared with 58 percent of fathers without depression.
"This study is important because it demonstrates that depression in fathers has very tangible effects on how those fathers interact with their young children," said Sarah Clark, one of the authors of the study.
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