Abstract
The mental health of fathers is often overlooked by researchers, mental health professionals, and fathers themselves. Yet, emergent research indicates that fathers experience a wide variety of mental health concerns. This chapter focuses on two prevalent mental health conditions that adversely impact fathers, particularly in the perinatal period: depression and anxiety. Both depression and anxiety have nuanced manifestations depending on the masculinity ideology of fathers. A prominent theme suggests that fathers adhering to more rigid masculinity ideologies are likely to externalize their depressive and anxious feelings in maladaptive anger, avoidance, risk-taking, and alcohol use. This chapter describes how mental health professionals can improve the screening, assessment, and treatment of fathers’ mental health. Future directions of research are also discussed.
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Azzam, P., Reagan, K.M., Isacco, A., Singley, D.B. (2022). Paternal Mental Health in the Perinatal Period. In: Molloy, S., Azzam, P., Isacco, A. (eds) Handbook of the Psychology of Fatherhood. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14498-1_10
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