Maternal alcohol consumption can adversely affect children’s development, but the impact of paternal drinking is less understood. We aimed to investigate whether maternal or paternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy affected children’s mental health and behavior.

A total of 2,013 parent–child triads from the European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood cohort were used. Data on alcohol consumption was obtained from questionnaires during pregnancy and after the child’s birth. Mental health and behavior of children were assessed with Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The associations were tested using linear regression, adjusting for socio-demographic and psychosocial covariates.

Increased maternal alcohol consumption was associated with higher total SDQ scores at ages 7, 11, and 18 years old when the outcomes were reported by mothers, but only at 11 years when reported by children. We did not observe any dose–response relationship, and the effect size did not change during the follow-up. The effects were observed across various domains of SDQ: in the emotional symptoms subscale at age 11, in the conduct problems subscale at ages 7 and 11, and in the hyperactivity/inattention subscale at age 18. Paternal alcohol consumption was not associated with SDQ.

Maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy is associated with long-term effects on children’s mental health and behavior, particularly when reported by mothers. No association was found between paternal alcohol consumption, suggesting that the results may stem from biological effects of alcohol or other factors beyond the direct exposure, potentially encompassing broader maternal psychosocial or behavioral characteristics.

Aims. Parental postpartum depressive symptoms have been extensively studied, but the combined longitudinal depression trajectories of parents and their long-term development beyond the postpartum period remain largely underexplored. We identified dyadic longitudinal depressive symptom trajectories in new parents, followed over an 11-year period, and compared parental characteristics, as well as child temperament and mental health factors, across different parental trajectory classes.

Methods. A prenatal cohort of 5,518 couples was studied. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale at eight time points: in the prenatal stage, in the newborn stage, and at 6 months, 18 months, 3 years, 5 years, 7 years and 11 years after the birth of the child.

Results. Dyadic Latent Class Growth Modelling identified five classes of couples: (1) mother has elevated depressive symptoms, father is non-depressed (24%); (2) both mother and father have elevated depressive symptoms (20%); (3) both mother and father are constantly non-depressed (42%); (4) both mother and father are constantly depressed (5%); and (5) mother is constantly depressed, father has elevated depressive symptoms (9%). Relationship maintenance (particularly being married or separated) was the most strongly associated with the classes. Socio-economic resources, emotional well-being, health, obstetric history and parental background also served as meaningful covariates. Child temperament and mental health showed weak correlations with parental trajectory classes.

Conclusions. Parents with postpartum depressive symptoms often experience depressive symptoms long-term. Separated parents are particularly vulnerable to adverse depressive trajectories. Our findings underscore the importance of dyadic methods in estimating unique combinations of parental depression trajectories.

The mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs) may have improved after the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to model the trajectories of psychological distress, depressive symptoms, and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and toward its end in HCWs in Czechia and investigate, which COVID-19 work stressors were associated with these trajectories.

The study included 322 HCWs from the Czech arm of the international HEROES Study who participated in an online questionnaire in two waves during the pandemic and one wave toward its end. Growth mixture modeling identified trajectory patterns of depressive symptoms (measured with Patient Health Questionnaire), distress (General Health Questionnaire), and resilience (Brief Resilience Scale). Logistic regression was applied to estimate the association of COVID-19 stressors with mental health trajectories, adjusting for baseline characteristics.

Trajectory classes revealed both high and low depressive symptoms (high in 61% of participants), distress (high in 82% of participants), and resilience (low in 32% of participants). Depressive symptoms and distress trajectories demonstrated the same shape, first increasing during the pandemic and decreasing toward its end, while resilience remained constant. Exposure to COVID-19 stressors, in particular, the experience of stigmatization, discrimination, and violence, was associated with high depressive symptoms and distress trajectories, but not with resilience.

Interventions provided to HCWs during crises such as pandemic should target distress and depressive symptoms and need to address stigmatization, discrimination, and violence.