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Health & Fitness

Five-year-olds exposed to paternal depression are more likely to have behavioral issues in grade school, Rutgers Health researchers find

Patti Zielinski, Community Contributor

In popular culture, dads are stoic, sensitive and strong. So powerful is the mystique of the happy dad that celebrities, joke books – even hard seltzers – carry the label.

Real life is different. Fathers get down, sometimes debilitatingly. And as new research from Rutgers Health reveals, when paternal depression goes undiagnosed or unaddressed, the negative social and behavioral effects on children can persist for years.

In a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Kristine Schmitz, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), together with other researchers from RWJMS and from Princeton and Rider universities, reports that children exposed to paternal depression when entering kindergarten are far more likely to have teacher-reported behavioral difficulties and poor social skills at age 9.

“We need to consider depression in both parents, not just mothers,” said Schmitz. “Depression is treatable, and to support the whole family, pediatricians must start talking with dads about it and developing father-focused interventions that meet their needs.”

On average, between 8% and 13% of fathers in the United States will be affected by some form of depression during their child’s early years, and the prevalence increases to 50% when the mother is also experiencing postpartum depression. But few studies have focused on paternal depression beyond the postnatal period or explored links between fathers’ mental health and children’s behaviors.

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To close this gap, Schmitz and colleagues analyzed data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a national birth cohort that randomly sampled births in 20 large U.S. cities from 1998 to 2000. The study continues to track changes in participants’ lives.

Two FFCWS data points were key to Schmitz’s assessment: When the children were age 5, their fathers were screened for depressive symptoms in the past year; and when they were 9, the children’s teachers completed a survey that included behavioral assessments.

“Kindergarten entry is an important developmental milestone, and adversities faced at that time can lead to poorer engagement and behaviors in grade school that may persist or magnify through middle and high school,” the researchers wrote.

By comparing data from 1,422 fathers – 74% of whom lived with their children at least half of the time when the child was 5 – and their children, and controlling for sociodemographic factors and maternal depression, the researchers were able to map a clear link between paternal depression and child conduct.

For instance, kids whose fathers reported depressive symptoms, such as feeling sad, blue or depressed when they were age 5 were, by age 9, significantly more likely to exhibit restlessness, defiance and anger as well as present lower levels of cooperation and self-esteem.

Schmitz said several reasons could explain the connection. For one, depression has been found to lead to difficulty parenting and less emotional support for the child. It can also cause conflict or other stress in the home.

Schmitz said no other population-based U.S. study has made such a definitive link between paternal depression and child behavior in school. The findings suggest that interventions to identify and support fathers with depressive symptoms, and their children, could help attenuate that link.

While paternal depression is connected to challenging child behaviors, there is reason for hope. Identifying and intervening early can help improve not only fathers’ well-being but also the well-being of the children, Schmitz said.

“As parents, we can model that when we struggle, we reach out and get help,” she said. “That’s a lesson children will carry for a lifetime.”

Explore more of the ways Rutgers research is shaping the future.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

Thanks to exceptional planning and design, Puffin in New Brunswick, New Jersey, enchants with a controlled explosion of color and fun.

For a dispensary that sits near the smaller end of the size scale, Puffin packs an enormous visual punch. Outfitted in bright colors, light wood, and lots of glass and sporting an adorable stylized puffin logo, the 2,500-square-foot shop near Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is the sort of place that beckons with a feel-good vibe.

“It’s a fun store,” said Georgia Peterman, business development representative for Display Dispensary, which designed the store’s floor plan and manufactured the fixtures. “You walk in and want to look around to discover all the cute things as you’re shopping.”

For Peterman and her colleague Jeff Sunga, outfitting smaller spaces poses unique challenges. Chief among them is a “need to cut the visual noise and make sure the design relates quickly and immediately while maintaining the elegance, elevation, and overall aesthetic of the brand,” Sunga said. Fortunately, Puffin’s owners “were decisive. They knew what they wanted and had a vision, so it was just a matter of translating that into the design.”

To balance the vivid color palette, the Display Dispensary team employed white display cases and storage cabinets. Both fade into the background, making the space seem larger and providing a neutral backdrop against which products pop. The cash stands and countertops were finished with raw-oak laminate for durability. All the fixtures were drawn from the Dispensary123 collection, then custom-fitted to ensure seamless integration.

To ensure customers weren’t overwhelmed by what might have been visual cacophony created by a surprisingly robust merchandise selection, Sunga and Peterman also used their backgrounds in fashion and retail design to create a merchandising plan for the store. The plan not only enhances the space’s “visual story” but also gives each square inch of visual space a dollar value.

“Some cases have risers inside,” Peterman said. As part of the firm’s consultation with clients, “we find out what kind of items they’re putting in cases and use our accessories to accentuate whatever they’re displaying.”

According to Sunga, “We always make sure items and brands are highlighted and it’s not just one big noisy mass of product. We like definitive lines and a story within each brand or section. Otherwise, when you have so many SKUs, it all just becomes too much for the consumer to shop.”

For the future, Display Dispensary’s pre-engineered fixtures and custom touches provide Puffin with a versatile canvas staff can redecorate and repurpose to suit the market’s evolving needs.

“It’s kind of like your favorite pair of red shoes,” Peterman said. “You can dress them up or down for different vibes.”

Built out in thirty days, Puffin opened to an eager market of college students and soccer moms. Already, according to business-news platform ROI-NJ, the shop “has amassed a huge local following.”

Sunga attributed that to the store’s atmosphere. “It’s all about the sensation you get when you walk in,” he said.

Puffin

puffinstorenj.com

Display Dispensary

displaydispensary.com | (877) 734-7752

A house in New Brunswick that sold for $3.1 million tops the list of the most expensive residential real estate sales in New Brunswick area in the past week.

In total, eight residential real estate sales were recorded in the area during the past week, with an average price of $869,703. The average price per square foot was $178.

The prices in the list below concern real estate sales where the title was recorded during the week of March 17 even if the property may have been sold earlier.

7. $351K, condominium at 724 Edpas Road

The sale of a condominium at 724 Edpas Road in New Brunswick has been finalized. The price was $351,000, and the new owners took over the condominium in March. The condominium was built in 1988 and has a living area of 1,222 square feet. The price per square foot was $287. The deal was finalized on March 4.

6. $398K, single-family house at 89 Morris Street

The property at 89 Morris Street in New Brunswick has new owners. The price was $397,630. The single family residence was built in 1950. The deal was finalized on March 5.

5. $420K, single-family home at 44 Tunison Road

The property at 44 Tunison Road in New Brunswick has new owners. The price was $420,000. The house was built in 1952 and has a living area of 1,075 square feet. The price per square foot is $391. The deal was finalized on March 5.

4. $549K, single-family residence at 69 Tunison Road

The 1,275 square-foot single-family home at 69 Tunison Road in New Brunswick has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in March and the total purchase price was $549,000, $431 per square foot. The house was built in 1952. The deal was finalized on March 4.

3. $580K, single-family house at 59 S. Pennington Road

A sale has been finalized for the detached house at 59 S. Pennington Road in New Brunswick. The price was $580,000 and the new owners took over the house in February. The house was built in 1952 and the living area totals 1,620 square feet. The price per square foot ended up at $358. The deal was finalized on Feb. 26.

2. $855K, single-family residence at 11 Clifton Ave.

The sale of the single-family house at 11 Clifton Ave., New Brunswick, has been finalized. The price was $855,000, and the house changed hands in February. The house was built in 1950 and has a living area of 3,298 square feet. The price per square foot was $259. The deal was finalized on Feb. 25.

1. $3.1 million, single-family residence at 40 Livingston Ave.

The single-family residence at 40 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick, has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in March and the total purchase price was $3,100,000. The -unknown- was built in 1926. The deal was finalized on March 3.

Real Estate Newswire is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to generate analysis of data from Propmix, an aggregator of national real-estate data.

Baseball

New Jersey's Fastest Growing University

Highland Park

2-8 • 2-7 GMC - Gold

3

FINAL

13

New Brunswick

7-1 • 6-1 GMC - Gold

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Game Leaders

Runs

Dorian Crocco #2

Highland Park

1

#13 Kelvin Heuston

New Brunswick

3

Hits

Seamus MacKinnon #14

Highland Park

2

#27 Devin Heuston

New Brunswick

2

RBI

Seamus MacKinnon #14

Highland Park

2

#33 Ronaldy Peralta

New Brunswick

2

Home Runs

Dorian Crocco #2

Highland Park

0

#13 Kelvin Heuston

New Brunswick

0

Strikeouts

Dorian Crocco #2

Highland Park

2

#5 Elkin Reyes

New Brunswick

3

Wed, April 23, 2025, 4:00pm

WP: Elkin Reyes

LP: Dorian Crocco

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PISCATAWAY, NJ — This Saturday and Sunday, bring kids and adults alike to East Old Town Village in Piscataway for the 2025 "Union Muster," a Civil War re-enactment held every year at the village.

Step back in time and experience what life was like in New Jersey during the U.S. Civil War era. There were approximately 80,000 soldiers from New Jersey who served in the Civil War, and this weekend you and your children will get a chance to learn about what that experience was like, and learn the history.

The event will be held from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday, April 26 and 27 at East Jersey Old Town Village, located at 1050 River Road in Piscataway. Free admission.

Visitors will enjoy a weekend full of:

East Jersey Old Town Village is a historical preserved history site run by Middlesex County. The village is a collection of 16 historical homes from the 1700s and 1800s and it shows what life was like in New Jersey during the American Revolutionary War and Civil War period.

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East Jersey Old Town Village is located at 1050 River RoadPiscataway, NJ 08854732-745-3030

FREE ADMISSION and open year-round, with historical interpreters on site from April - October.

Hours: Wednesday–Friday: 10 am–4 pmSaturday and Sunday: 12–4 pm

Parking: It’s free and easy: Here’s a map of the Village, including our accessible parking area.