Parenting Suffers When Dad Has Depression March 14, 2011 -- It’s not uncommon for fathers to experience at least one episode of major depression within the first year of a child’s life, a new study shows.

The study also found that dads with depression were nearly four times more likely to spank their babies and about half as likely to read to them, compared to fathers who were not depressed.

That’s important because previous studies have shown that physical punishments like spanking may lead children to become more aggressive, and reading to children helps kids develop language skills.

“This study, I think, is very important because it documents what happens in families when fathers are depressed. We have very little evidence about that,” says James F. Paulson, PhD, professor of pediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk.

“This idea that fathers who are depressed are more likely to use a harsh parenting tactic and also less likely to read to their children really points to concrete effects of depression in the father on the family,” says Paulson, who has studied paternal depression but was not involved in the current research.

Slideshow: Depression Overview