Differential cognitive and behavioral development from 6 to 24 months in autism and fragile X syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Specifying early developmental differences among neurodevelopmental disorders with distinct etiologies is critical to improving early identification and tailored intervention during the first years of life. Recent studies have uncovered important differences between infants with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and infants with familial history of autism spectrum disorder who go on to develop autism themselves (FH-ASD), including differences in brain development and behavior. Thus far, there have been no studies longitudinally investigating differential developmental skill profiles in FXS and FH-ASD infants. METHODS: The current study contrasted longitudinal trajectories of verbal (expressive and receptive language) and nonverbal (gross and fine motor, visual reception) skills in FXS and FH-ASD infants, compared to FH infants who did not develop ASD (FH-nonASD) and typically developing controls. RESULTS: Infants with FXS showed delays on a nonverbal composite compared to FH-ASD (as well as FH-nonASD and control) infants as early as 6 months of age. By 12 months an ordinal pattern of scores was established between groups on all domains tested, such that controls > FH-nonASD > FH-ASD > FXS. This pattern persisted through 24 months. Cognitive level differentially influenced developmental trajectories for FXS and FH-ASD. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate detectable group differences by 6 months between FXS and FH-ASD as well as differential trajectories on each domain throughout infancy. This work further highlights an earlier onset of global cognitive delays in FXS and, conversely, a protracted period of more slowly emerging delays in FH-ASD. Divergent neural and cognitive development in infancy between FXS and FH-ASD contributes to our understanding of important distinctions in the development and behavioral phenotype of these two groups.

White matter development and language abilities during infancy in autism spectrum disorder.

White matter (WM) fiber tract differences are present in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and could be important markers of behavior. One of the earliest phenotypic differences in ASD are language atypicalities. Although language has been linked to WM in typical development, no work has evaluated this association in early ASD. Participants came from the Infant Brain Imaging Study and included 321 infant siblings of children with ASD at high likelihood (HL) for developing ASD; 70 HL infants were later diagnosed with ASD (HL-ASD), and 251 HL infants were not diagnosed with ASD (HL-Neg). A control sample of 140 low likelihood infants not diagnosed with ASD (LL-Neg) were also included. Infants contributed expressive language, receptive language, and diffusion tensor imaging data at 6-, 12-, and 24 months. Mixed effects regression models were conducted to evaluate associations between WM and language trajectories. Trajectories of microstructural changes in the right arcuate fasciculus were associated with expressive language development. HL-ASD infants demonstrated a different developmental pattern compared to the HL-Neg and LL-Neg groups, wherein the HL-ASD group exhibited a positive association between WM fractional anisotropy and language whereas HL-Neg and LL-Neg groups showed weak or no association. No other fiber tracts demonstrated significant associations with language. In conclusion, results indicated arcuate fasciculus WM is linked to language in early toddlerhood for autistic toddlers, with the strongest associations emerging around 24 months. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate associations between language and WM development during the pre-symptomatic period in ASD.

Associations between early trajectories of amygdala development and later school-age anxiety in two longitudinal samples.

Amygdala function is implicated in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and anxiety. We investigated associations between early trajectories of amygdala growth and anxiety and ASD outcomes at school age in two longitudinal studies: high- and low-familial likelihood for ASD, Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS, n = 257) and typically developing (TD) community sample, Early Brain Development Study (EBDS, n = 158). Infants underwent MRI scanning at up to 3 timepoints from neonate to 24 months. Anxiety was assessed at 6-12 years. Linear multilevel modeling tested whether amygdala volume growth was associated with anxiety symptoms at school age. In the IBIS sample, children with higher anxiety showed accelerated amygdala growth from 6 to 24 months. ASD diagnosis and ASD familial likelihood were not significant predictors. In the EBDS sample, amygdala growth from birth to 24 months was associated with anxiety. More anxious children had smaller amygdala volume and slower rates of amygdala growth. We explore reasons for the contrasting results between high-familial likelihood for ASD and TD samples, grounding results in the broader literature of variable associations between early amygdala volume and later anxiety. Results have the potential to identify mechanisms linking early amygdala growth to later anxiety in certain groups.

Enlarged Perivascular Spaces in Infancy and Autism Diagnosis, Cerebrospinal Fluid Volume, and Later Sleep Problems.

Importance: Perivascular spaces (PVS) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are essential components of the glymphatic system, regulating brain homeostasis and clearing neural waste throughout the lifespan. Enlarged PVS have been implicated in neurological disorders and sleep problems in adults, and excessive CSF volume has been reported in infants who develop autism. Enlarged PVS have not been sufficiently studied longitudinally in infancy or in relation to autism outcomes or CSF volume. Objective: To examine whether enlarged PVS are more prevalent in infants who develop autism compared with controls and whether they are associated with trajectories of extra-axial CSF volume (EA-CSF) and sleep problems in later childhood. Design, Setting, and Participants: This prospective, longitudinal cohort study used data from the Infant Brain Imaging Study. Magnetic resonance images were acquired at ages 6, 12, and 24 months (2007-2017), with sleep questionnaires performed between ages 7 and 12 years (starting in 2018). Data were collected at 4 sites in North Carolina, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Data were analyzed from March 2021 through August 2022. Exposure: PVS (ie, fluid-filled channels that surround blood vessels in the brain) that are enlarged (ie, visible on magnetic resonance imaging). Main Outcomes and Measures: Outcomes of interest were enlarged PVS and EA-CSF volume from 6 to 24 months, autism diagnosis at 24 months, sleep problems between ages 7 and 12 years. Results: A total of 311 infants (197 [63.3%] male) were included: 47 infants at high familial likelihood for autism (ie, having an older sibling with autism) who were diagnosed with autism at age 24 months, 180 high likelihood infants not diagnosed with autism, and 84 low likelihood control infants not diagnosed with autism. Sleep measures at school-age were available for 109 participants. Of infants who developed autism, 21 (44.7%) had enlarged PVS at 24 months compared with 48 infants (26.7%) in the high likelihood but no autism diagnosis group (P = .02) and 22 infants in the control group (26.2%) (P = .03). Across all groups, enlarged PVS at 24 months was associated with greater EA-CSF volume from ages 6 to 24 months (ß = 4.64; 95% CI, 0.58-8.72; P = .002) and more frequent night wakings at school-age (F = 7.76; η2 = 0.08; P = .006). Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that enlarged PVS emerged between ages 12 and 24 months in infants who developed autism. These results add to a growing body of evidence that, along with excessive CSF volume and sleep dysfunction, the glymphatic system could be dysregulated in infants who develop autism.

A Data-Driven Approach in an Unbiased Sample Reveals Equivalent Sex Ratio of Autism Spectrum Disorder-Associated Impairment in Early Childhood.

BACKGROUND: Sex differences in the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders are particularly evident in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Heterogeneous symptom presentation and the potential of measurement bias hinder early ASD detection in females and may contribute to discrepant prevalence estimates. We examined trajectories of social communication (SC) and restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) in a sample of infant siblings of children with ASD, adjusting for age- and sex-based measurement bias. We hypothesized that leveraging a prospective elevated familial likelihood sample, deriving data-driven behavioral constructs, and accounting for measurement bias would reveal less discrepant sex ratios than are typically seen in ASD. METHODS: We conducted direct assessments of ASD symptoms at 6 to 9, 12 to 15, 24, and 36 to 60 months of age (total nobservations = 1254) with infant siblings of children with ASD (n = 377) and a lower ASD-familial-likelihood comparison group (n = 168; nobservations = 527). We established measurement invariance across age and sex for separate models of SC and RRB. We then conducted latent class growth mixture modeling with the longitudinal data and evaluated for sex differences in trajectory membership. RESULTS: We identified 2 latent classes in the SC and RRB models with equal sex ratios in the high-concern cluster for both SC and RRB. Sex differences were also observed in the SC high-concern cluster, indicating that girls classified as having elevated social concerns demonstrated milder symptoms than boys in this group. CONCLUSIONS: This novel approach for characterizing ASD symptom progression highlights the utility of assessing and adjusting for sex-related measurement bias and identifying sex-specific patterns of symptom emergence.

Development and Validation of a Father Involvement in Health Measure.

Father involvement has been associated with positive child social, emotional, psychological, developmental, and health outcomes. However, tools for measuring father involvement have not kept pace with the expanding understanding of the roles of fathers, and in the area of child health, are blunt. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a self-report measure of father involvement in preschooler's health, the Father Involvement in Health-Pre-School (FIH-PS). In phase 1 item generation, 47 items were developed based on previous qualitative work and vetted through cognitive interviews with 21 fathers of children ages 3-5 (preschool). In phase 2 psychometric validation, 560 fathers of 3-5 year olds (n=392 resident, n=168 non-resident) completed the FIH-PS item bank. Participants were predominantly white (64%), had private health insurance (53%), had a mean age of 33 years, and half were married. Item Response Theory was used to determine measurement scoring. The FIH-PS scale was reduced from a 47-item bank to a total of 20 items supporting a 4-factor scale made up of Acute Illness, General Well-being, Emotional Health, and Role Modeling. Following exploratory (n=280) and confirmatory factor (n=280) analyses, the scale followed a bifactor structure, was internally consistent (Cronbach's α=0.953), and discriminated among fathers with lower involvement. A sum-to-T-score crosswalk table was produced to standardize the scores along a normal distribution (mean=50, S=10, range 10.8-71.3). Future research and clinical applications of the FIH-PS are discussed.

Hispanic Young Males' Mental Health From Adolescence Through the Transition to Fatherhood.

The objective of the current study was to examine the associations between the transition to fatherhood and depressive symptoms scores among Hispanic men. Using the sample of Hispanic men included in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, depressive symptom scores were examined from 1994 to 2008. A "fatherhood-year" data set was created that included the men's Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) scores as well as residency status with the child. By regressing age-adjusted standardized depressive symptom scores, associations between mental health scores of Hispanic men and their transition to fatherhood were identified. Among the 1,715 Hispanic men, resident ( n = 502) and nonresident ( n = 99) Hispanic fathers reported an increase in depressive symptom scores (CES-D) during the first 5 years after entrance into fatherhood (ß = 0.150, 95% CI [0.062, 0.239] and ß = 0.153, 95% CI [0.034, 0.271], respectively) compared to non-fathers ( n = 1,114), representing an increase of 10% for resident fathers and a 15% for nonresident fathers. Hispanic non-fathers reported a decrease in depressive symptom scores (CES-D) during parallel ages. Hispanic fathers, regardless of residency status, reported increased depressive symptoms in the first 5 years after the transition into fatherhood, a period critical in child development.

Stress From the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to Home: Paternal and Maternal Cortisol Rhythms in Parents of Premature Infants.

To examine cortisol diurnal rhythms over the transition from the critical care setting to home for fathers and mothers of very low-birth-weight infants, including how cortisol is associated with psychosocial stress and parenting sense of competence. This cohort study in a level III neonatal intensive care unit and the general community had 86 parents complete salivary collection and self-reported psychosocial measures. Salivary samples were collected 3 times a day on the day before discharge, and on 3 subsequent days at home. Self-report measures included the Perceived Stress Scale and the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale, which measure parenting satisfaction. Fathers showed increased physiologic stress over the transition home, reflected by flattening of slopes, lower wakeup, and higher bedtime cortisol. Mothers reporting increases in perceived stress over the transition home had higher bedtime cortisol, suggesting a link between higher perceived stress and higher physiologic stress. Results were significant after controlling for breastfeeding, insurance status, and gestational age. This study examined a physiologic marker of stress in parents with very low-birth-weight infants, finding sex disparities in diurnal cortisol patterns during the transition from neonatal intensive care unit to the community. Fathers may be especially susceptible to stressors during this transition.

Physical function metric over measure: An illustration with the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT).

BACKGROUND: Measuring patient-reported outcomes (PROs) is becoming an integral component of quality improvement initiatives, clinical care, and research studies in cancer, including comparative effectiveness research. However, the number of PROs limits comparability across studies. Herein, the authors attempted to link the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General Physical Well-Being (FACT-G PWB) subscale with the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Physical Function (PF) calibrated item bank. The also sought to augment a subset of the conceptually most similar FACT-G PWB items with PROMIS PF items to improve the linking. METHODS: Baseline data from 5506 participants in the Measuring Your Health (MY-Health) study were used to identify the optimal items for linking FACT-G PWB with PROMIS PF. A mixed methods approach identified the optimal items for creating the 5-item FACT/PROMIS-PF5 scale. Both the linked and augmented relationships were cross-validated using the follow-up MY-Health data. RESULTS: A 5-item FACT-G PWB item subset was found to be optimal for linking with PROMIS PF. In addition, a 2-item subset, including only items that were conceptually very similar to the PROMIS item bank content, were augmented with 3 PROMIS PF items. This new FACT/PROMIS-PF5 provided superior score recovery. CONCLUSIONS: The PROMIS PF metric allows for the evaluation of the extent to which similar questionnaires can be linked and therefore expressed on the same metric. These results allow for the aggregation of existing data and provide an optimal measure for future studies wishing to use the FACT yet also report on the PROMIS PF metric. Cancer 2018;124:153-60. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

Personality Predicts Mortality Risk: An Integrative Data Analysis of 15 International Longitudinal Studies.

This study examined the Big Five personality traits as predictors of mortality risk, and smoking as a mediator of that association. Replication was built into the fabric of our design: we used a Coordinated Analysis with 15 international datasets, representing 44,094 participants. We found that high neuroticism and low conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness were consistent predictors of mortality across studies. Smoking had a small mediating effect for neuroticism. Country and baseline age explained variation in effects: studies with older baseline age showed a pattern of protective effects (HR<1.00) for openness, and U.S. studies showed a pattern of protective effects for extraversion. This study demonstrated coordinated analysis as a powerful approach to enhance replicability and reproducibility, especially for aging-related longitudinal research.

Supporting Parents of Premature Infants Transitioning from the NICU to Home: A Pilot Randomized Control Trial of a Smartphone Application.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether parents of Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW) infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) transitioning home with the NICU-2-Home smartphone application have greater parenting self-efficacy, are better prepared for discharge and have shorter length of stay (LOS) than control parents. METHODS: A four-week pilot randomized controlled trial during the transition home with 90 VLBW parents randomized to usual care (n=44) or usual care plus NICU-2-Home (n=46), a smartphone application designed for VLBW parents. Parenting Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC) was assessed at baseline, day after discharge, and two weeks post-discharge. Preparedness for discharge and length of stay (LOS) were secondary outcomes. Analyses by usage were also included. RESULTS: While parents of VLBW infants in the intervention group did not show an improvement in PSOC during the transition when compared directly to controls, after accounting for actual mean app usage, PSOC improved 7% (2.71 points/time greater; 95%CI = 1.45, 6.27) for intervention versus controls. Compared to controls, above-average users increased their PSOC score by 14% (6.84 points/time; 95%CL = 5.02, 8.67), average users by 11% (4.58 points/time; 95%CL = 2.89, 6.27) and below-average users by 6% (2.41 points/time; 95%CL = 0.04, 4.79). Moderate evidence showed LOS was shorter for above-average users compared to the control group (ß = 12.2. SE = 6.9, p = 0.085). CONCLUSION: A smartphone application used by parents of VLBW infants during the transition home from the NICU can improve parenting self-efficacy, discharge preparedness, and LOS with improved benefits based on usage.

Paternal and Maternal Testosterone in Parents of NICU Infants Transitioning Home.

Lower testosterone during the transition to new parenthood is considered beneficial to help parents better engage with their infants. No data currently exist studying salivary testosterone of parents with infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) during the transition to home. We examine testosterone levels for parents of very low-birth-weight infants, including links between salivary testosterone and infant factors (such as breast-feeding), psychosocial stress, and changes over time.Testosterone salivary samples were assayed after self-collection by 86 parents (43 fathers and 43 mothers) with NICU infants at wakeup and bedtime prior to discharge and at 3 additional times at home. Self-reported survey measures, including psychosocial reports, were also collected at these times.Using multilevel modeling approaches, we report significant associations between paternal testosterone by time and psychosocial adjustment and between both paternal and maternal testosterone and infant feeding mode (P < .05). Results were significant after accounting for covariates. Our study is the first to examine the time course of diurnal testosterone for parents of premature infants over the transition home; as such, we suggest further research into better understanding parental physiology in this vulnerable parent population.

Adolescent Reproductive Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs and Future Fatherhood.

PURPOSE: With a growing focus on the importance of men's reproductive health, including preconception health, the ways in which young men's knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs (KAB) predict their reproductive paths are understudied. To determine if reproductive KAB predicts fatherhood status, timing and residency (living with child or not). METHODS: Reproductive KAB and fatherhood outcomes were analyzed from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a 20-year, nationally representative study of individuals from adolescence into adulthood. Four measures of reproductive KAB were assessed during adolescence in waves I and II. A generalized linear latent and mixed model predicted future fatherhood status (nonfather, resident/nonresident father, adolescent father) and timing while controlling for other socio-demographic variables. RESULTS: Of the 10,253 men, 3,425 were fathers (686 nonresident/2,739 resident) by wave IV. Higher risky sexual behavior scores significantly increased the odds of becoming nonresident father (odds ratio [OR], 1.30; p < .0001), resident father (OR, 1.07; p = .007), and adolescent father (OR, 1.71; p < .0001); higher pregnancy attitudes scores significantly increased the odds of becoming a nonresident father (OR, 1.20; p < .0001) and resident father (OR, 1.11; p < .0001); higher birth control self-efficacy scores significantly decreased the odds of becoming a nonresident father (OR, .72; p < .0001) and adolescent father (OR, .56; p = .01). CONCLUSIONS: Young men's KAB in adolescence predicts their future fatherhood and residency status. Strategies that address adolescent males' reproductive KAB are needed in the prevention of unintended reproductive consequences such as early and nonresident fatherhood.

Longitudinal Study of Body Mass Index in Young Males and the Transition to Fatherhood.

Despite a growing understanding that the social determinants of health have an impact on body mass index (BMI), the role of fatherhood on young men's BMI is understudied. This longitudinal study examines BMI in young men over time as they transition from adolescence into fatherhood in a nationally representative sample. Data from all four waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health supported a 20-year longitudinal analysis of 10,253 men beginning in 1994. A "fatherhood-year" data set was created and changes in BMI were examined based on fatherhood status (nonfather, nonresident father, resident father), fatherhood years, and covariates. Though age is positively associated with BMI over all years for all men, comparing nonresident and resident fathers with nonfathers reveals different trajectories based on fatherhood status. Entrance into fatherhood is associated with an increase in BMI trajectory for both nonresident and resident fathers, while nonfathers exhibit a decrease over the same period. In this longitudinal, population-based study, fatherhood and residence status play a role in men's BMI. Designing obesity prevention interventions for young men that begin in adolescence and carry through young adulthood should target the distinctive needs of these populations, potentially improving their health outcomes.

Health Literacy and Patient-Reported Outcomes: A Cross-Sectional Study of Underserved English- and Spanish-Speaking Patients With Type 2 Diabetes.

This study examined associations between patient characteristics, health behaviors, and health outcomes and explored the role of health literacy as a potential mediator of outcomes. English- and Spanish-speaking adults with Type 2 diabetes used a bilingual multimedia touchscreen to complete questionnaires. The behavioral model for vulnerable populations guided multivariable regression and mediation testing. Dependent variables were diabetes self-care, health status, and satisfaction with communication. Independent variables included sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, health literacy, health beliefs, and self-efficacy. Spanish speakers had lower health literacy and poorer physical, mental, and overall health compared to English speakers. Higher health literacy was associated with less social support for diet, fewer diet and medication barriers, younger age, higher diabetes knowledge, and talking with health care professionals to get diabetes information. In contrast to expectations, health literacy was not associated with diabetes self-care, health status, or satisfaction with communication, and it did not mediate the effects of other factors on these outcomes. Diabetes self-efficacy was significantly associated with health behaviors and outcomes. The association between Spanish language preference and poorer health was not mediated by this group's lower health literacy. Increasing health-related self-efficacy might be an important clinical strategy for improving outcomes in underserved patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Linking Physical and Mental Health Summary Scores from the Veterans RAND 12-Item Health Survey (VR-12) to the PROMIS(®) Global Health Scale.

BACKGROUND: Global health measures represent an attractive option for researchers and clinicians seeking a brief snapshot of a patient's overall perspective on his or her health. Because scores on different global health measures are not comparable, comparative effectiveness research (CER) is challenging. OBJECTIVE: To establish a common reporting metric so that the physical and mental health scores on the Veterans RAND 12-Item Health Survey (VR-12 (©) ) can be converted into scores on the corresponding Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS(®)) Global Health scores. DESIGN: Following a single-sample linking design, participants from an Internet panel completed items from the PROMIS Global Health and VR-12 Health Survey. A common metric was created using analyses based on item response theory (IRT), producing score cross-walk tables for the mental and physical health components of each measure. The linking relationships were evaluated by calculating the standard deviation of differences between the observed and linked PROMIS scores and estimating confidence intervals by sample size. PARTICIPANTS: Participants (N = 2025) were 49 % male and 73 % white; mean age was 46 years. MAIN MEASURES: Mental and physical health subscales of the PROMIS Global Health and the VR-12. The mean VR-12 physical component and mental component scores were 45.2 and 46.6, respectively; the mean PROMIS physical and mental health scores were 48.3 and 48.5, respectively. KEY RESULTS: We found evidence that the combined set of VR-12 and PROMIS items were relatively unidimensional and that we could proceed with linking. Linking worked better between the physical health than mental health scores using VR-12 item responses (vs. linking based on algorithmic scores). For each of the cross-walks, users can minimize the impact of linking error with modest increases in sample sizes. CONCLUSIONS: VR-12 scores can be expressed on the PROMIS Global Health metric to facilitate the evaluation of treatment, including CER. Extending these results to other common measures of global health is encouraged.

Establishing a common metric for self-reported pain: linking BPI Pain Interference and SF-36 Bodily Pain Subscale scores to the PROMIS Pain Interference metric.

PURPOSE: The study purposes were to mathematically link scores of the Brief Pain Inventory Pain Interference Subscale and the Short Form-36 Bodily Pain Subscale (legacy pain interference measures) to the NIH Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS(®)) Pain Interference (PROMIS-PI) metric and evaluate results. METHODS: Linking was accomplished using both equipercentile and item response theory (IRT) methods. Item parameters for legacy items were estimated on the PROMIS-PI metric to allow for pattern scoring. Crosswalk tables also were developed that associated raw scores (summed or average) on legacy measures to PROMIS-PI scores. For each linking strategy, participants' actual PROMIS-PI scores were compared to those predicted based on their legacy scores. To assess the impact of different sample sizes, we conducted random resampling with replacement across 10,000 replications with sample sizes of n = 25, 50, and 75. RESULTS: Analyses supported the assumption that all three scales were measuring similar constructs. IRT methods produced marginally better results than equipercentile linking. Accuracy of the links was substantially affected by sample size. CONCLUSIONS: The linking tools (crosswalks and item parameter estimates) developed in this study are robust methods for estimating the PROMIS-PI scores of samples based on legacy measures. We recommend using pattern scoring for users who have the necessary software and score crosswalks for those who do not.

A longitudinal study of paternal mental health during transition to fatherhood as young adults.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Rates of paternal depression range from 5% to 10% with a growing body of literature describing the harm to fathers, children, and families. Changes in depression symptoms over the life course, and the role of social factors, are not well known. This study examines associations with changes in depression symptoms during the transition to fatherhood for young fathers and whether this association differed by key social factors. METHODS: We combined all 4 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to support a 23-year longitudinal analysis of 10 623 men and then created a "fatherhood-year" data set, regressing age-adjusted standardized depressive symptoms scores on fatherhood status (nonresidence/residence), fatherhood-years, and covariates to determine associations between Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale scores and fatherhood life course intervals. RESULTS: Depressive symptom scores reported at the entry into fatherhood are higher for nonresident fathers than nonfathers, which in turn are higher than those of resident fathers. Resident fathers have a significant decrease in scores during late adolescence (ß = -0.035, P = .023), but a significant increase in scores during early fatherhood (ß = 0.023, P = .041). From entrance into fatherhood to the end of early fatherhood (+5 years), the depressive symptoms score for resident fathers increases on average by 68%. CONCLUSIONS: In our longitudinal, population-based study, resident fathers show increasing depressive symptom scores during children's key attachment years of 0-5. Identifying at-risk fathers based on social factors and designing effective interventions may ultimately improve health outcomes for the entire family.