London, June 24: Post-natal depression in fathers can have a serious effect on children’s future behaviour and emotional development and particularly affects sons, researchers said today.

A study from Bristol University’s Children of the 90s project confirms that post-natal depression is experienced by a significant number of men.

The condition is said to affect about one mother in 10 but the problem is less well recognised, and more controversial, in new fathers. Some researchers estimate that between three and 10 per cent of men are affected.

Baby girls and boys can be affected by depression in their parents. Boys of depressed fathers appeared twice as likely to develop behavioural problems by age three-and-a-half.