Maternal depression has well-documented effects on the mental and physical well-being of children, but less research has been conducted on how depressed fathers affect children. A new study, “Paternal Mental Health and Depressive Symptoms and Child Behavioral or Emotional Problems in the USA” in the December 2011 Pediatrics (published online Nov. 7), found that children who live with fathers with depressive symptoms and other mental health problems are more likely to have emotional or behavioral problems themselves. Michael Weitzman, MD,lead author of this study comes on the show to discuss how depression in fathers can affect their children's emotional and behavioral stability.
Guest Info
Dr. Weitzman is Professor of Pediatrics and Environmental Medicine at the New York University School of Medicine, where he previously served as Chair of the Department of Pediatrics. Before that he served as the Executive Director of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Center for Child Health Research and Professor and Associate Chair of Pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He also was Director of Maternal and Child Health for the City of Boston and Director of General Pediatrics at Boston City Hospital and Boston University School of Medicine. He has conducted research and written extensively on childhood lead poisoning, childhood effects of passive and prenatal exposure to cigarette smoke and ways to reduce exposure, numerous aspects of child nutrition and obesity, and the epidemiology of children's mental health problems, school failure, and asthma, as well as the effects of parental depression on child development. His work has focused largely on the social and environmental determinants of children’s health and he has published over 300 original articles, chapters, books and abstracts of scholarly work.
Dr. Weitzman has served in advisory capacities to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the Federal Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as having served as a medical expert for the Department of Justice in its 2005 federal racketeering case against the Tobacco Industry. His work has resulted in his winning the Academic Pediatric Association’s most prestigious award for lifetime accomplishments in Research and he was the first recipient of the U.S. Environmental Protection’s Child Environmental Health Advocacy Award.
