TOPLINE:

Symptoms of paternal depression and coparenting quality showed bidirectional associations with father-infant bonding, with 22% of 1600 Swedish fathers reporting depression symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis using data from a large national cohort study in Sweden, with participants recruited through paid Facebook advertisements between December 2021 and February 2022.
• The analysis included 1600 fathers of children aged 0-24 months, who completed both parts of an online survey and had the ability to complete the survey in Swedish.
• Validated tools used included the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), the Brief Coparenting Relationship Scale, and the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire, which measured paternal depression symptoms, the coparenting relationship, and father-infant bonding, respectively.
• Investigators tested two competing mediation models to examine direct and indirect associations between key variables, including paternal depression, coparenting relationship, and father-infant bonding.

TAKEAWAY:

• Approximately 22% of participating fathers reported depression symptoms (EPDS score ≥ 10), with all key variables showing statistically significant correlations (P < .001).
• Higher levels of paternal depression symptoms were significantly associated with increased impaired bonding (beta-coefficient [β], 0.23), rejection and anger (β, 0.13), and anxiety about care (β, 0.13).
• A stronger coparenting relationship was associated with reduced impaired bonding (β, -0.12), rejection and anger (β, -0.08), and anxiety about care (β, -0.03).
• Depression and coparenting emerged as significant mediators, and these mediating variables explained 24.9% of the variance in the coparenting relationship (model 1) and 20.1% in depression symptoms (model 2), suggesting their bidirectional association with father-infant bonding.

IN PRACTICE:

"The current study shows that paternal depression symptoms (Model 1) and the coparenting relationship (Model 2) are both directly associated with father-infant bonding, respectively, after controlling for known covariates," the authors wrote.

"This study reiterates that clinicians may seek pathways to screening, support, and intervening with fathers to decrease their depression symptoms and strengthen their coparenting relationship to further decrease bonding disturbances," they added.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Jubayer Mumin, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. It was published online on December 26, 2025, in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

LIMITATIONS:

This study was limited by the absence of information about paternal preexisting mental health conditions, maternal depression symptoms, and maternal coparenting behaviours. This study relied on self-reported measures from fathers alone, without input from mothers. Additionally, the sample showed potential selection bias, with 95% of participants being native-born Swedes. The targeted recruitment strategy of the researchers may have led to an oversampling of fathers with depression symptoms, which may have affected the generalisability of the findings.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was funded by a grant from Stockholms Läns Landsting. The authors declared having no competing interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.