B4637 - The Effects of Non and Pre- and Postnatal Exposure to Paternal Anxiety on their offs - 10/06/2024

B number: 
B4637
Principal applicant name: 
Peter J Lawrence | University of Southampton (UK) (England)
Co-applicants: 
James Swanton
Title of project: 
The Effects of Non and Pre- and Postnatal Exposure to Paternal Anxiety on their offs
Proposal summary: 

Anxiety disorders (AD) are the most prevalent
psychiatric condition in the general population worldwide, and it is estimated that
between 6.57 and 13.54% of new fathers suffer from an AD (Leiferman et al.,
2021), a considerably higher proportion than the prevalence for anxiety in men
generally estimated by the World Health Organization (World Health Organization,
2017; range between 2.2 − 3.8%). The mental health of children is robustly
associated with the mental health of their parents (Jami et al., 2021). In particular,
children whose parents suffer from ADs, compared to children whose parents do
not, have a higher risk of struggling with their mental health (e.g., Connell &
Goodman, 2002; Micco et al., 2009; Lawrence et al., 2019). However, the specific
role played by fathers in children's mental health difficulties has been underinvestigated, and the particular risk posed by paternal anxiety for offspring mental health difficulties is not well understood.

Impact of research: 
This research will add to the existing literature on the father-specific contribution to the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology and will help disentangle direct (e.g., post-natal) from latent (e.g., pre-natal) effects of paternal anxiety on the development of their offspring.
Date proposal received: 
Saturday, 8 June, 2024
Date proposal approved: 
Monday, 10 June, 2024
Keywords: 
Mental health - Psychology, Psychiatry, Cognition, Mental health, Statistical methods, Parenting