Depressed Dads

1. The study was done by researchers from the University of Michigan.
2. In the article, there is no evidence of who sponsored the research. In the full online report of the study in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the authors have said that there is no financial relationship relevant to this study to disclose.
3. There is the possibility that the sponsor of this study could have an interest in finding this particular result: “more than 40 percent of depressed fathers spanked their children, compared with 13 percent of fathers who weren't depressed.” The results could easily lead to an increase in job in fields related to depression, family care, health care and violence.
4. The methodology used by the researchers was to collect data from “1,746 new fathers in 20 cities”. However, it does not include information such as how the 20 cities were chosen, how the 1, 746 fathers were selected, when was the survey done, and the questions asked to the fathers.
5. The study’s results are not communicated very well in the article as the main focus of the article is to show that researchers are calling attention to depressed fathers. However, the use of percentages helps to understand the information a little bit more.
6. There were no graphs, but it would have been really beneficial to use such a visual aid.

References:

Author: Tara Parker-Pope

Article title: Time to Focus on Sad Dads

Publication Title: The New York Times

Date: Thursday, March 31, 2011

Link: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/time-to-focus-on-sad-dads/

External Resources:

Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2010-1779v1