The mental health pathways of young fathers: why we need a dynamic and sociological understanding to better support the joys of parenthood
As we mark International Fathers' Mental Health Day on 16th June 2025, a welcome spotlight is shone upon the mental health experiences of fathers navigating the transformative journey of parenthood. Within this wider conversation, the experiences of one group remains almost invisible: young fathers aged 25 and under. As some of the most marginalised and disadvantaged parents, their experiences of becoming and being dads are perhaps some of the most misunderstood and unnoticed in research, policy, and practice.
The Following Young Fathers Further research team have been researching with young fathers for over a decade now to bring their experiences and support needs to the fore. Our study has captured their parenting journeys as they transition into and adjust to the unique experience of first-time (and often subsequent) parenthood. In following young fathers across their parenting journeys, we have been able to observe how their mental health evolves over time and is shaped in distinctive ways by their social contexts, life events, and personal circumstances and experiences.
This blog offers key insights from our research, highlighting the fluctuating mental health pathways of young fathers and the importance of addressing their unique needs and circumstances.
Protective and predictive factors for mental health
We know that while fatherhood is a transformative experience it is also a major life transitions and can be a prolonged experience of adjustment and adaption. Our research highlights that fatherhood is not a static experience but a dynamic and evolving journey with many ups and downs. In the current context fatherhood has a dual dynamic: as both as a potential stressor and/or a protective factor in men’s lives and in terms of their mental health (read our briefing report here).
On one hand, the pressures of adapting to new responsibilities, including financial strains, changing relationships, and evolving identities, can increase vulnerability to mental ill-health among fathers. On the other hand, the experience of becoming a parent instils a strong sense of purpose and motivates positive change. For some, the responsibility that comes with raising a child fosters resilience and positive mental health outcomes.
Somewhat distinctive to young fathers is that their mental health is deeply intertwined with their socio-economic circumstances and other inequalities and factors. Socio-economic challenges like poverty, unstable housing, and disrupted education often exacerbate mental ill-health, particularly for those in low-income contexts. For young fathers like Adam (whose story we explore in our featured video), the lack of stable housing and employment is not only a practical barrier, but a profound emotional burden, exacerbated by societal expectations to be both a provider and an engaged caregiver.
Mental health outcomes are also affected by fluctuating social conditions. Employment precarity, relationship instability, and a lack of recognition in systems designed around mothers and children can all be predictive of distress. Meanwhile, protective factors like strong familial bonds, community belonging, or culturally responsive peer support can enhance well-being, but these are not a universal provision and are often difficult to access. Consequently, young fathers too often navigate these pressures in isolation.
Watch Adam’s story here: https://youtu.be/OYux52-DaHA
Current public health systems fall short in providing father-inclusive resources particularly during the perinatal period and frequently overlook their needs. Like most fathers, young fathers face significant barriers to mental health support. Our research found that they frequently encounter stigma or fear disclosure, worried that opening up about their mental health might trigger risk-averse or punitive responses from professionals such a removal of their children.
Where they are provided, community-based services, including dads’ groups and specialist support play a crucial role. Peer-led groups, mentoring schemes, and bespoke support provide vital emotional scaffolding helping fathers to navigate systemic challenges, make sense of their experiences and and to restore their mental well-being. However, the availability of such services is a ‘postcode lottery’, underscoring the need for consistent delivery and investment in accessible, tailored interventions that support young fathers’ mental health and foster positive trajectories.
Conclusion: reframing fathers’ mental health as a policy and practice priority
When we understand young fathers’ mental health as dynamic and context-dependent, we can better recognise both the distinct challenges they face and the opportunities for positive change that fatherhood can offer. While the transition to parenthood often brings pressures, including financial insecurity, housing precarity, and identity shifts, it can also foster resilience, motivation, and personal growth.
By examining young fathers’ experiences over time, we gain clearer insight into the social determinants that shape and influence their mental health. This includes recognising how structural inequalities and inadequate service provision exacerbate distress, and the importance of investing in and providing responsive, community-based support and father0inclusive systems and services as part of a protective and preventative agenda.
Our research underscores the need for professionals and policymakers to prioritise young fathers’ mental health and to build systems that acknowledge their realities. Doing so requires tailored, accessible support and a more inclusive approach to parenting policy; one that enables young men to thrive both as caregivers and as individuals.
Useful links
To access resources about what works in supporting men as-fathers please visit the Father-inclusion Hub: https://fatherinclusion.org/
DigiDAD: https://digidad.uk/, a co-created e-resource made by young fathers, for young fathers:
From our partners and young dads
“[daughter]'s almost two-year-old. She came up the house and she actually really liked it. Preferably my house is the best place for her to, for the contact to be, if I’m honest, 'cause we just buy toys for her all the time. We’ve got a lovely garden that she can play in, lovely, big, and we’ve got a sandpit in there. We’ve been buying loads of things for her to play with to keep her occupied.”
“[Speaking about support of young fathers] We’ve done a lot of kind of advocation and representing them, a lot of the time there’s involvement with statutory services. They don’t have the care of the young person, the care’s provided by the state or the mother, so we’ve attended lots of meetings with the young person to offer additional support and facilitated contact where necessary and offered just general emotional wellbeing, support, improving robustness and resilience, encouraging them to have as amicable relationship as possible.”
“And I suppose it goes back to what we were saying before about behaviours, maybe the education side of stuff and the fact that men aren’t involved in those early conversations, you know, whether it is, I know they’re invited to come along to bumps to babies but I don’t know whether we go into the detail around some of that brain development side of stuff and things like that. Maybe that is the thing that really would change things. You know, if you were given all of that information about what happens to a child as they grow, in a scientific way, as easy to understand as possible, could be the thing that impacted on behaviour in the home.”
“If your child’s with the mother, like your relationship with her depends on your relationship with the child, innit. That’s what I realised a lot, like you can try and be bitter, you can try and be this, be that, but it’s just gonna push you further away from your child, innit.”
“I wanna fight for more stuff for dads. Like I do wanna have that extra support for new dads or even existing dads that we don’t get now 'cause we’re still important too although obviously the mum does need the majority a’ the care because obviously of the after care and the birth. But like the dads take it extremely hard as well. And obviously with having no support I think it increases the rise of mental health.”
“I think both a mother and father combined, it’s communicating and both being on the same page of what’s best for your child or children, and for both, it’s just being there 100% for them and not, like, putting yourself first, it’s, you know, putting the child’s interests first... ”
“We need to be including, we need to not [just] be focusing on mum and child […] That’s a great focus but dad … dad’s not invisible, dad needs to be in the picture as well because there’s research that shows you the effect it has on children and families as a whole when dad isn’t in the picture, so services need to be changing the way in which they work so it’s more inclusive.”
“Cause I think a lot of the time, some of young people who end up having children have been through the care system or support systems and they can feel quite judged or labelled by organisations and it’s breaking the cycle and breaking them out of that to feel empowered to be able to take stuff back, that’s the real interest to me. So, it’s about getting support right, as in being there and giving advice and guidance and all them things that we can do, but also making sure that we are doing with people as opposed to people.”
“One of the most successful projects we ever did was an informal dads’ group, and it used to be on Saturdays […] they did what they wanted, they used to do things like breakfast, and they would have breakfast together and talk about dad stuff and where they were taking their kids. And that group was always really well attended because there was never an agenda. They were never judged. They were just there together.”
“...the whole stay at home dad thing is not something to be ashamed of, you know, if you’re a dad and you wanna take your daughter out for the day, or you wanna take your kid out for the day on your own, well why is that frowned upon, why can’t you take your child out for the day ”
“Oh…patience…compassion…tolerance, a whole boatload a’ that! Honestly, I like a whole lot of life. Sacrifice…compromise, yeah I think, yeah I think they, they would be the, the big, the five, I feel, I think that was five, they would be the main. ”
“We’re currently in touch with social services for two [dads] because they don’t understand why they can’t see their children because they haven’t been informed by social services, their partner. So there’s a massive communication breakdown with those young men, so that’s the main focus of what we’re dealing with at the minute.”
“it’s still…the…sense of judgement I get from other people when they find out that I have a child.And they say, ‘oh how old is she’.I say, ‘oh she’s ten’. And they say, ‘oh how old are you?’. Like you don’t need to know that....I know exactly where that thought process is going, you know. It’s like, ‘oh you look really young and you’ve had a kid’. It’s like, ‘yeah I know, I was there!’”
Partners
