title: Early father involvement moderates biobehavioral susceptibility to mental health problems in middle childhood.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study how early father involvement and children's biobehavioral sensitivity to social contexts interactively predict mental health symptoms in middle childhood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fathers' involvement in infant care and maternal symptoms of depression were prospectively ascertained in a community-based study of child health and development in Madison and Milwaukee, WI. In a subsample of 120 children, behavioral, autonomic, and adrenocortical reactivity to standardized challenges were measured as indicators of biobehavioral sensitivity to social context during a 4-hour home assessment in 1998, when the children were 7 years of age. Mental health symptoms were evaluated at age 9 years using parent, child, and teacher reports.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Early father involvement and children's biobehavioral sensitivity to context significantly and interactively predicted symptom severity. Among children experiencing low father involvement in infancy, behavioral, autonomic, and adrenocortical reactivity became risk factors for later mental health symptoms. The highest symptom severity scores were found for children with high autonomic reactivity that, as infants, had experienced low father involvement and mothers with symptoms of depression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among children experiencing minimal paternal caretaking in infancy, heightened biobehavioral sensitivity to social contexts may be an important predisposing factor for the emergence of mental health symptoms in middle childhood. Such predispositions may be exacerbated by the presence of maternal depression.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Institute of Development, University of California, Berkeley, USA. tom.boyce@ubc.ca
authors.forename: W Thomas
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Boyce
authors.forename: Marilyn J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Essex
authors.forename: Abbey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alkon
authors.forename: H Hill
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Goldsmith
authors.forename: Helena C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kraemer
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kupfer
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood*; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone