Maude Johansson is a psychologist and doctoral student at Linnaeus University in Växjö. She has studied postpartum depression, also called childbirth depression, and parental stress in over 1300 parents in Kronoberg County. The focus has been on how parents feel 2-2.5 years after birth.

- The most important thing in my research is that postpartum depression in mothers and high stress in fathers does not seem to decrease after the child's first year. The research has been based a lot on the first year and we haven't known so much about what it looks like after a year, says Maude Johansson.

Dad's stress level increases later

Today, new parents can answer questions at the Child Care Center 6-8 weeks after giving birth to see if they have suffered from birth depression. If so, support should be offered and most often it is the mother who answers the questionnaire. Maude Johansson's research shows that depression can come later and that the parents are not caught up to the same extent. The result indicates that depressive symptoms increase after the child's first year, especially with the fathers, which surprises Maude Johansson. When the child is 2.5 years old, the father's stress level is in line with that of the mothers, the research shows.

- It is important to research this because we know that the early years shape us. If we can strengthen parents and children early, you will be more resilient later in life against ill health and stress. We know that if parents feel bad during the early years of children, they feel bad about it and that is why it is important to support parents who have difficulties, says Maude Johansson.

Want to improve the care plan

The purpose of her research is to improve the efforts of new parents and young children.

- I hope that Kronoberg and I can do a survey of what the support looks like for parents and then create some form of care chain, says Maude Johansson.

- It is hard to be a parent today, it is demanding and it can be a reason why parents are not feeling well. Sometimes parents also need help to reduce the requirement. If a parent does not feel well, there is a great risk that it will affect the partner and the other family, she says.