Depression in Teen Girls Linked to Absent Fathers in Early Childhood

New research out of the UK's University of Bristol indicates that girls whose fathers were absent during their early childhood are more likely to become depressed in their teen years.

The study, published in Psychological Medicine, found that girls whose fathers left when they were between the ages of 0 and 5 were more likely to develop depressive symptoms in adolescence than those whose fathers left when they were between the ages of 5-10 and boys in both age groups (0-5 and 5-10).

The findings are part of the larger "Children of the 90s" longitudinal study, a long-term research project that follows the children of 14,000 mothers who enrolled during their pregnancies in 1991 and 1992. This depression study in particular looked at 5,631 children.

"These findings indicate a need to include fathers in research related to child and adolescent mental health issues," Iryna Culpin, the paper’s lead author, said in a press release.

Source: Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/teen-depression-in-girls-_n_3281871.html