According to new research published in JAMA Psychiatry, older fathers or younger mothers carry an increased risk of having children with mental illness, reported Quartz.
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The researchers found that children born to parents younger than 25 or older than 29 were more likely to be diagnosed and treated for some mental illness or developmental challenge.
Having a teenage father increased the risk of mental disorder by 28 percent, but teen mothers posed nearly double that risk at 51 percent.
“For a long time, it was thought the age of the father didn’t make a difference -- we were wrong,” said lead researcher, professor John McGrath from the University of Queensland in Australia
By Lee Shin-young, Intern reporter (sylee@heraldcorp.com)