Introduction: The aim of this study was to examine expressed emotion (EE) in depressed fathers one year postpartum. Paternal depression in the postnatal period has been shown to place children at risk for emotional and behavioural problems. However, the mechanism through which the risk is transmitted remains unidentified. EE, a measure of family environment, has been investigated in children and adolescents and has been associated to child psychopathology. EE has also been found to mediate the relationship between maternal depression and child externalizing behaviours. There exists no research however examining EE in the context of paternal depression. The primary aims of the study were: a) To examine differences in EE in depressed and non-depressed fathers and b) To investigate whether EE mediates the relationship between paternal depression and child externalizing behaviours.Methods: EE was examined in families of one year old infants, whose fathers (n=24) had experienced an episode of major depression within the first postnatal year and were compared to families whose fathers (n=79) had no history of depression. EE was measured using the preschool version of the Five-Minute Speech Sample (pFMSS). Both parents completed the EE assessment and the externalizing scale of the Child Behavior Checklist.Results: Depressed fathers expressed fewer positive comments towards their infants than non-depressed fathers but did not differ in other aspects of EE. Depression predicted externalizing behaviours, but the relationship was not mediated by EE. Maternal EE revealed no differences in families with a depressed and non-depressed father.Discussion: This is the first study to examine EE in the context of paternal depression and to report depressed fathers to be less positive towards their infants. The low rates of high EE in both mothers and fathers indicates that further adaptations are necessary to the pFMSS for use with one year old infants. Even though EE did not mediate the relationship between paternal depression and child externalizing behaviours; the low rates of positivity in families of depressed fathers may negatively impact on child development and therefore warrant further exploration.</p
