The impact of paternal mental illness on child development: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Whilst there is growing evidence highlighting the importance of paternal mental illness (PMI) on child development, this relationship still remains under-studied and often over-looked. Considering the increasingly active role of fathers in their children's upbringing, a comprehensive overview of the impact of PMI on child development is overdue. This study aimed to combine and synthesise currently available evidence on the relationship between PMI and multiple domains of child development. Narrative synthesis of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on the relationship between PMI and child development (mental health and social, emotional, language, cognitive or adaptive behaviour), published between 1980 to December 2021, was conducted in line with PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Review quality was assessed based on AMSTAR-2 criteria and respective study confidence was interpreted in line with GRADE scoring. All relevant meta-analytic effect sizes were converted to odds ratios (OR) and grouped using a random effects model. Grouped meta-analyses saw PMI to have a significant, detrimental effect on all studied domains of child development [OR: 1.54; 95% CI (1.36-1.74)]. Subgroup analyses saw PMI affecting both internalising [OR: 1.62; 95% CI (1.27-2.08)] and externalising [OR: 1.63; 95% CI (1.28-2.08)] child behaviours to a similar extent. However, included reviews were of poor methodological quality, demonstrating either low or critically low confidence. These results show a consistent and influential effect of PMI on child development. The relationship between fathers' mental illness and child development warrants further investigation, as current research is limited in scope, particularly regarding cognitive domains of child development and non-affective PMI diagnoses.

Social conformism and confidence in systems as additional psychological antecedents of vaccination: a survey to explain intention for COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare and welfare sector workers, France, December 2020 to February 2021.

BackgroundThe start of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign among French healthcare and welfare sector workers in January 2021 offered an opportunity to study psychological antecedents of vaccination in this group.AimWe explored whether knowledge and attitude items related to social conformism and confidence in systems contributed to explaining intention for COVID-19 vaccination.MethodsWe developed a knowledge and attitude questionnaire with 30 items related to five established and two hypothetical psychological antecedents of vaccination (KA-7C). The online questionnaire was distributed from 18 December 2020 to 1 February 2021 through chain-referral via professional networks, yielding a convenience sample. We used multivariable logistic regression to explore the associations of individual and grouped KA-7C items with COVID-19 vaccine intention.ResultsAmong 5,234 participants, the vaccine intention model fit (pseudo R-squared values) increased slightly but significantly from 0.62 to 0.65 when adding social conformism and confidence in systems items. Intention to vaccinate was associated with the majority opinion among family and friends (OR: 11.57; 95% confidence interval (CI): 4.51-29.67) and a positive perception of employer's encouragement to get vaccinated (vs negative; OR: 6.41; 95% CI: 3.36-12.22). The strongest association of a knowledge item was identifying the statement 'Some stages of vaccine development (testing) have been skipped because of the epidemic emergency.' as false (OR: 2.36; 95% CI: 1.73-3.22).ConclusionThe results suggest that social conformism and confidence in systems are distinct antecedents of vaccination among healthcare and welfare workers, which should be taken into account in vaccine promotion.

Prenatal maternal negative life events associated with child emotional and behavioral problems in the French EDEN cohort.

INTRODUCTION: Prenatal negative life events (NLEs) have been linked to adverse health outcomes in children. However, few studies examine this relationship during late childhood using trajectory analyses. Additionally, the impact of specific NLEs domains on child development remains unclear. This study aims to longitudinally explore the association between NLEs (cumulative score and specific NLEs domains) and child outcomes from birth to late childhood. METHODS: 1135 mother-child pairs from the French EDEN cohort were followed from 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy up to 11 years of age. Maternal self-reports of prenatal NLEs were collected immediately after birth, then analyzed as a cumulative score and by NLEs domain. Children's emotional and behavioral symptoms were assessed at 4 timepoints through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. RESULTS: Children of mothers exposed to ≥3 NLEs were more likely to follow trajectories of high levels of peer relationship problems (aOR [95 % CI] = 5.69 [1.74-18.69]), emotional symptoms (aOR [95 % CI] = 3.05 [1.08-8.63]), and conduct problems (aOR [95 %] = 3.53 [1.20-10.42]). Among the domains of NLEs, only events related to housing, finance, and living conditions were significantly associated with high emotional and behavioral difficulties trajectories (aOR [95%CI] = 2.71[1.26-5.81]). LIMITATIONS: Potential attrition bias due to a higher dropout rate for children experiencing early indications of emotional and behavioral difficulties. CONCLUSION: Findings support the relationship between prenatal NLEs and child outcomes, underscoring the importance of assessing prenatal stressors across life domains to identify mothers who might be in need of support.

Longitudinal effects of maternal depressive and anxious symptomatology on child hair cortisol and cortisone from pregnancy to 5-years: The EDEN mother-child cohort.

Exposure to maternal depressive and anxious symptomatology in utero and after birth can affect child outcomes. One proposed mechanism is through changes in child stress hormone levels, however current studies present inconsistent findings, and further research is needed to better understand the impact of maternal mental health on child stress response. This study aims to add to the limited literature by analysing longitudinal data ranging from 24 weeks amenorrhea to 5 years postpartum among 281 mother-child pairs from the French EDEN mother-child birth cohort. Hair cortisol and cortisone data were collected from children at four time points: birth, 1, 3, and 5 years. Mothers reported depressive symptomatology via the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (at 24-weeks amenorrhea, 3-, and 5-year follow-up), and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) (at 4, 8 and 12 months postpartum). Prenatal anxiety symptomatology was measured via the State Anxiety Inventory (STAI) at 24 weeks amenorrhea. Group-based trajectory modelling indicated a 1-cluster classification of longitudinal child hair cortisol, cortisone and cortisol-to-cortisone ratio, as analyses did not reveal a classification by subgroups representing different child profiles. After inverse probability weighting, small effects showed prenatal depressive symptomatology was significantly associated to higher levels of child hair cortisone at one year. Prenatal anxiety symptomatology was significantly linked to higher levels of child cortisol measured at birth and cortisone at birth and at 1 year. Postpartum depressive symptomatology at 8 months was related to higher levels of cortisone among 3-year-olds. These effects were not moderated by child sex or maternal socio-economic status. Further research is needed to understand why there are associations at some time points and not others to determine any potential buffering factors.

Maternal Mental Health Care Matters: The Impact of Prenatal Depressive and Anxious Symptoms on Child Emotional and Behavioural Trajectories in the French EDEN Cohort.

Few studies have investigated longitudinal trajectories of child socioemotional and behavioural development in relation to maternal prenatal mental health exposure or taken into consideration of the potential buffering effects of psychological intervention during pregnancy. Using data from 1135 mother-child dyads from the EDEN cohort from the general French population, Group-based trajectory modelling was used to model trajectories of behavioural and emotional characteristics measured at four timepoints via a parent-administered Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Using propensity scores and inverse probability weighting to account for confounding factors, multinomial logistic regressions were used to quantify the associations with maternal symptoms of prenatal depression and anxiety. Stratified analyses were conducted by reporting psychologist and psychiatrist consultations during pregnancy. Compared to those without psychological problems, children of mothers with comorbid anxiety and depression retained a higher probability of following high and intermediate trajectories of emotional problems and a high trajectory of conduct problems throughout childhood. This increased risk was not present in the children of mothers who sought support through a prenatal psychologist or psychiatrist consultation. This article adds to a body of evidence underlining the importance of mental health care for expecting mothers.