A team of researchers at Rutgers University in the US has found that five-year-olds exposed to paternal depression are more likely to have behavioural issues in grade school.

In a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Kristine Schmitz, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), together with other researchers from RWJMS and from Princeton and Rider universities, reported that children exposed to paternal depression when entering kindergarten are far more likely to have teacher-reported behavioural difficulties and poor social skills at age 9.